The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-29 00:00:00

OCTOBER.

Bedford 5, b , Cheltenham l9. 20
Edinburgh 6, 7, 8 I eurragh l9, 2‘, `.l.
Leicester 7, 8 I West Drayton .........21, 22
Bromley 7 8 Hereford ...... ........ .21, 22
liewt4arket 2d 0ct...11, &c. I Monmouth 23, 24
Chelmsford
Kelso 19 20 1

Bank of England Returns.

An Account, pursuant to ti
cap. 32, for the week ending 1

ho Act ith and Bth Victoria
ifiednesday, April 28, 1869.

ISSUE DEPARTMENT.
Notes issued .....£30,834,620 Govornmt. Debt £11,015,1C0
Other Securities 3,984,900
Gold Coin and
Bullion
Silver Bullion

£30,831,620

:RIB' OF THE PUBLIC JOURNAT,;,,

The Times, in discussing the recent debate on our
licensing system, observes that within ten years of the
beer law, Lord Brougham, who had been oue of its
strongest advocates, proposed a measure for its repeal, so
terrible had been the immorality occasioned by the system.
The notion of the reformers was that by bringing good
beer to every poor man's door they would be keeping him
from the public-house—in other words, from bad company
and vicious habits, The result, as they discovered too
late, was that by putting beer in everybody's way they
induced a certain number of persons to drink too much of
it, and so promoted the very evil they desired to suppress.
To this disappointment was added another misfortune
of unexpected magnitude. The object of the Legis-
lature in transferring the licensing power from the
magistrates to the excise was unquestionably good.
Magistrates .were often brewers themselves, still more
frequently connected with brewing and moneyed
interests, so that for various reasons they might be
expected to discourage the new establishments, and, under
cover of requirements touching moral character and repute,
to put difficulties in the way of beer licenses. The excise
ofTleers, on the other hand, would be anxious only to
increase the revenue by the consumption of exescable
articles, and, moreover, they had no discretion in the mat-
tx, provided the applicant for a license complied with the
very easy condition of the Act. The consequence was, in
the words of Mr. Bruce, " a check exercised on public-
houses which did not exist in regard to beerhouses"—in
other words, beerhouses became independent of all
control whatever. A bench of magistrates could
refuse a wine and spirit license without diffi-
culty--the Excise could not possibly refuse a beer
license. No doubt the reformers of 1830 imagined
that a shop for the sale of beer alone would be as harmless
an establishment as that of a grocer or teadealer ; but
experience has shewn how completely they were mistaken.
The truth came out the other day in our reports upon the
haunts of habitual criminals. Of all the bad places in the
country, a bad beershop—and of these there are many—is
about the worst. Over these houses the magistrates have
no control, the police have no control, and the Excise have
only a control which is utterly nugatory. That, in fact,
is the point at which reform is now most imperatively
needed. It is idle to think of establishing a reign of
sobriety by putting beer absolutely out of reach, but we
can insure that beershops should, at any rate, be no worse
conducted than public-houses, and that when they are
turned into dens of thieves a short and sharp remedy
should be in the hands of those who are responsible for
public order.

The Star says the beershops may probably be dealt
with, or at least their evils will be so thoroughly exposed
in discussions such as that which took place on Sir H.
Selivin-Ibbetson's bill, that a general measure on licensing
will at last be extorted from Parliament. Successive
Governments have long been willing enough to deal with
the subject; but they have always found themselves
hampered and impeded by certain great interests and
organisations which effectually prevent the matter from
being settled on its merits. If the agitations which have so
usefully begun go on, it will be seen that the present state
of things i 9 unbearable. It would be a good thing at once
to get rid of beershops, because they, unlike public-
house; are inevitably, if not intrinsically, bad ; but
this part of the work were accomlllished,there would still
be many questions to be disposed of. We should have to
make up our minds whether the liquor trade ought to be
open or restricted, whether the restriction should be in
the form of certain requirements in the way of rental and
accommodation, or should be secured by placing a discre-
tionary power in the hands of magistrates; or by giving a
veto to the inhabitants cf each neighbourhood. For the
peace of the country, as well asfor its sobriety and decency.
all these questions ought to be settled.

Staniard refers to Mr. Lowe's scheme for hiding
the law cour:s in a hole where nobody can see them
except by adventuring himself upon a penny steamboat,
and declares that by the side of the Government proposi-
tion Sir Charles Trevelyan's plan appears at once
economical, magnificent, and convenient. Mr. Lowe and
Mr. Layard have mutilated the Embankment scheme,
rejecting all its good and retaining all its bad features.
The sum of Mr. Lowe's financial operation is this. lie
could erect such law courts as he considers necessary
for be has substituted lihs judgment for that of everybody
at all conversant with the question, upon the Carey-street
site for a net sum of about—including the money already
expended-zone million and six hundred thousand pounds.
This, however, he refuses to do, and embarks in a
speculation which, however .favourably it may turn
out, assuming the land to be acquired for £600,000,
must necessarily turn out a losing one to the public.
Mr. Lowe, in the name of economy, wants to make ducks
and drakes of the public money to prevent the erection of
a palace on rising ground, which those who have to use it
can conveniently get- at : proposes at greater cost one in a
01,11(,w which e.in Le convenient to nobody esaTt, perhaps
sf-sw of Mr. Layard's constituents, and, in a noble
paroxysm Of economy, attempts to dragoon the House of
Commons into the perpetration of the most costly folly—
Vit b not, the most scandalous job—its annals can shew.
The Times contrasts the position of a clergyman of the
Chnnh ‘vitli that of a minister of a voluntary
___:l in two caws recently brought before
zailomals—the cases of Mr. 'Bennett, of Frome, anc:
Mr. Cordon, the pastor of_ an Todependsot chapel an
Reading. The clergyman holds a .status. fixed by law.
The position of the minister is fixed by private contract.
The clergyman, if only be obey the law, is safe, neither
congregation nor Lisle") having power to interfere
with him ; whereas in many denominations, whether
or not among the Independents, the minister is at
the mercy of his con,gregation. In short, the clergy-
man's tenure is infinitely the more secure ; though
that this is a doubtful advantage is, of course, open to
volinitaryists to maintain, -Upon the question whether
the bishop should be invested with a discretion as to the
initiation of proseedingi against a elergyman, much may
he said on both sides. The law, it may be urged, is made
to protect the congregations ; it is they who suffer from its
violation. How can tite law be equal for ail, if each judge
to have a fln:asos,.f, 7.1,,V,1.? WI, V. hire a discretion to
inshops, who, in the matter of doctrine orceremony, are as
great offenders as the clergy under their charge ? If a bishop
may spare a heretic, what is to prevent him from sparing
an open profligate? The law is the same both for one and
the other. For these reasons Lord Shaftesbury, in his bill be-
fore Parliament, proposes to give power to prosecute to any
three inhabitant householders of the diocese who are
Churchmen. On the other hand, it is necessary to look to
the practical working of the system. As to immorality,
no bishop is charged with being indulgent to immoral
clergymen in his diocese, though he may not prosecute
them, on account of the expense ; but for this the remedy
lies elsewhere. Then as to doctrine, the truth is, it is not c
good that the law should always be rigorously enforced.
These prosecutions are often oppressive to individuals •
they disturb the public, beget
where all should be
friendly co-operation, and entirely fail to produce doc-
trinal uniformity,
The Herald thinks it necessary that an ample reserve of
well-trained regular soldiers should be created, who should
be ready to join the ranks when required. The great
obstacle to its creation hitherto has consisted in the
length of the recruits' engagement. Bit the
new regulation, which leaves the colonies to pro-
vide for their own protection, and largely increases
the home force, will enable the Government to
snake the term of service shorter; and by passing the
soldiers more rapidly through " the mill," will provide an
ample supply of the best description of men for the reserve.
Lord Monek, while bearing ample testimony to the
patriotism of the volunteers and their utility
should occasion arise for Vieir services, very properly
" objects to their being reckoned among the standing
forces of the country ;" but we cannot coincide in his
opinion that the total abolition of the purchase system
would tend to increase the efficiency of our army. Pro-
motion from the ranks can only -with safety be adopted
in an army raised by conscription, which ensures the
presence in the ranks of men of family and such
education as would qualify them for promotion. In
ours, consisting of volunteers from the lowest, most
ignorant, and generally the worst-conducted class
of the population, it would be simply impossible to find
persons suited for commissioned officers in such numbers
as would at all affect its organisation for the better ; while
special provision for one portion of the men existed would
not only be attended with increased- expense, but would
create jealousy and discontent amongst the others. The
first need of the country is a reserve of regular
troops, which will place it beyond the risk of danger
•
and from the tenor of the debate in the Upper House on Lord
::Nfouck's motion we have every hope of the speedy realisa
tion of this most necessary adjunct to our national defences,

Ciinrol, as ex

The Daily News says that the story of Mr. Benjamin
Higgs remains something more than a nine days' wonder,
even in these days. of sensational crime. If that gentle-
man is watching the world frOm the retirement he so
opportunely sought, he has at least the satisfaction of
having made a sensation. Though the crime of which he
has been guilty is nothing but commonplace and vulgar
felony, he may at any rate claim the advantage of the
very Philistine distinction between wholesale and
retail. He has been a wholesale dealer in rogueries,
and the more his proceedings • are investigated
the more strange and startling they become.
It is of coarse easy to be wise after the event,
but it does seem remarkable that Mr. • Higgs's double life
should never have became hnown 'to the directors of the
company. Perhaps the very immensity of the difference
between Mr. Higgs of the gas office, and .111 r. Higgs of
Teddin,ton, constituted part of his security. The con-
Ilninst 11:e one of:the --drPams of romance. It is
of the real and the ideal. Where the
this ce6ipant are at fan:t, in failing to
4ieeittel..4li44-pr;eate- eN.pendAnr,', but in fail'
liCTe sy4te-fa""Of I-tug-01110 was fairly
ey had a sys4ent so prrYeet that, even
)ta:ts can devise nothing better, bat
nted that it was being worked. Yet
stein that Higgs at,o relied. The
ter_ it ; bus lic did, and it
ii-1"11T,W a% it rni::;it have ans,wereq theirs.
position by the same tenure by
e v,-re thing is-held —that.of wakefulness and watch.
He was kept wide
.awake by. the penalty of dig-
--those who iiOUl i have wadi, the d'scovery had no •
3r to keep awake, and they went on in the
ice liiiiiness generally transacted.
in-rasot,al supervision will always beat systems in
;tlsinc,. and_the very machiner.7.- of accounts •
:..)7a c,,,(r:Tvgn, eiwn int,re:-.t. and not,
care:;il:y it la meant t.)
OW; .;.ea!;r4i*,%-s f.raud z Isk.a.4cr cliaaaw Q 1

the

S (1, ttilA Wk.r

,!;rectors o'6l bob ido]

eoing
works:

THE HORRIBLE MURDER _TN SOUTH

IVALES.

Mr. J. Williams, coroner for Breconshire, has opened an
inquiry at Pende*,-n touching the death of Mary Jones,
who lived on a farm known by the name of Nant-y-derry.
The house in which deceased resided is about a quarter of
a mile from any other dwelling, and for several weeks past
she lived alone, her husband having died about ten weeks
ago. After his death a neighbour's daughter slept with
her for three weeks, and then she told the girl to go home,
as her mother had work for her to do. The deceased
formerly carried milk into Hirwain every day for sale,
but latterly she had not done so. She was frequently
heard to say that she had money enough to keep her
without troubling anybody while she lived, and
she was considered by her neighbours to be tole-
rably well off, but no one knew where she had placed ber
money. A will has been found in the house, bequeathing
all the property she possessed to her stepdaughter, who
resides at Pontypridd. The evidence of Mr. Webster,
surgeon, chewed that there was a compound fracture of
the skull at the back of the head, a contuse,' mud over
the left eyebrow, the left hand was charred, and the right
slightly so, and the body was also burnt in several places.
His opinion was that death arose from laceration and
injury to the brain, probably caused by the leg of a chair.
The inquiry was adjourned for a fortnight, and the
coroner expressed a hope that the police, in th e meantime,
would be successful in their search after the guilty pat ty ;
but as yet the case is involved in mystery,