The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEI)NESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 10, 1869.

INTELLIGENCE.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

TEE CABINET COUNCIL•

All fifteen of the Cabinet Ministers were at Mon-
day's Council. As Mr. Chichester Fortescue came
over from Ireland to be present, it requires
no special information to know that Ireland
was the chief subject of Ministerial deliberations.
This Council was followed by another yesterday.
Although the Queen will not open Parliament, she
will come to London in order to be near her Ministers
during the grave period now approaching.
ANOTHER BANKRUPTCY BILL.

The usual annual announcement is made that the
Lord Chancellor is engaged in framing a new Bank-
ruptcy Bill. Lord Hatherley has not tried his hand
at one before, and he has the merits and the mistakes
of his predecessors—Lords Westbury, Cranworth,
Chelmsford, and Cairns—to guide him. We presume
that the bill will be discussed first in the House of
Lords, for the Peers will be wanting employment
while the Commons are fighting over the Irish
Church Bill. It is to be hoped that Lord Hatherley
will be able to limit the clauses of his bill to not
more than ten thousand. We do not look for
wit in a Bankruptcy Act, but we do look for
brevity, since that is at least a guarantee of safety.
THE POST OFFICE.
The letter-carriers, of the metropolis especially, are
dissatisfied at their position. The postman's place
was originally a comparatively easy one, and it was
understood that the duty of delivering the letters
would interfere but very slightly with his ordinary
trade or business. But all this is changed. The labours
have in the metropolis and other large towns become
so heavy that very little other work can be done.
The men have naturally asked for more money. The
authorities refused to "raise their screw." But some
members of Parliament being interested in the
caae, £13,000 more was voted for increasing certain
salaries. This money, however, instead of being used
for the lesser officials and for adjusting the scale
of remuneration, was distributed in the higher
ranks of the department The scale at pre-
sent is most unequal and unfair, so-called
promotions being accompanied in many cases by
lower salaries, the minimum in one office being under
the maximum in the office below it. Thusi, men who
are not in a position to accept lower wages are
unable to obtain promotion. These grievances were,
during the general election, set forth in an address
to the public, with the .view of getting members of
Parliament returned who were favourable to an in-
crease.. Said address was agreed upon by a com-
mittee, and signed by one Johnson. This is the only
man who could be fixed upon, though there is not a
postman who would not tell the same tale, and
Johnson has been dismissed. Surely this is rather
hard, seeing that his complaints are supported by
several M.P.'s • and the . matter
_is likely ere long to
come before iarliament.
GOVERNMENT AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS.
A correspondent of the Times asks why the present
Government has not carried out the arrangements
which were embodied in the Telegraph Act of last
session. Instead of the matter being finally con-
cluded by the opening of Parliament, many months
must yet elapse before the reform is carried
out. It will be unfortunate if it should turn
out that the Government are actuated by
a party feeling in the matter; and, indeed,
it is not a question which concerns politicians
at all, it having been unanimously agreed upon
with a view to the interests of the nation. Expe-
rience has shewn the advantages that are derived by
other countries in the telegraph system being worked
by Government, and Parliament has fully discussed
the subject. The greatest care was bestowed on the
investigation of the question, and the Act was not passed.
until the evidence of the most competent witnesses
had been taken. It would, then, be the height of
inconsistency for the present Government to draw
back and " pick holes" in the so-called Tory measure,
and it would lessen the confidence of the public in
Parliamentary investigations and Acts of Parliament,
and also shake their faith in the good intentions of
Ministers to carry out all reforms that are necessary.
In the current number of the _Edinburgh Review
there is an article which takes the " party"
view of the question, and while it brings
forward no new facts, it seeks to preju-
dice the case by reviving the worn-out argu-
ments of last session. A.ll these were fully discussed
in the House and effectively answered, and no good
purpose can be gained by renewing the inquiry. The
companies would in all probability demand a larger
price than they did at first, because their profits have
increased since that time, and the present Govern..
ment will shew to disadvantage in the public estima-
tion if they do not follow up the reforms of their
predecessors. It will exhibit them to the country in
a most unfavourable light, and cause our national
honour and reputation for good faith to be lightly
regarded. The Times, in a leader, endorses for the
most part these opinions of its correspondent, and
advises the Government to carry out the arrange-
ment without further delay.
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA.
There is good reason to expect that we shall by
the end of this year have telegraphic communi-
cation with India which will be wholly under
English management, and therefore not liable to the
blunders which now render telegrams to or from
India as difficult to decipher as a palimpsest or a
cuneiform inscription. It is stated that the allot-
ment of shares in the British India Submarine
Telegraph Company (Limited) having been com-
pleted, the manufacture of the cable will be
at once commenced by the Telegraph Con-
struction and Maintenance Company. It is expected
that the whole will be finished before the
autumn, and that it will be shipped in the Great
Eastern—on the return of that vessel from laying
the French Transatlantic Cable—in sufficient time
to admit of the necessary operations for submerging
the section from Bombay to Aden being proceeded
with in December, when the Great Eastern is intended
to reach Bombay. It is satisfactory that Sir Richard
Glass will, now that he has been unseated at Bewdley,
be able to give his undivided attention to the con-
struction of this important cable.
=lan NOTES.
Earl Spencer has survived the ordeal of addresses
through which every new Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
has to pass. He has now entered on the second
period of his reign—the banqueting. The good
people of Dublin, or of some society or corporation,
give the occupant of the Castle a good dinner, and
offer their congratulations, in return for which
he is expected to make a speech. He made such a
speech on Monday at the Dublin Mansion House.
He congratulated himself on being a member of an
Administration called to office by the voice of the
whole nation ; declared himself a hearty supporter
of the policy of the high-minded statesman now at
the head of affairs ; and expressed his wish to see
and hear all parties and the representatives of all
creeds. Cardinal Cullen was present at the meeting,
and his Excellency said he was most pleased to meet
him, " the head of a Church to which the majority
of the people belonged," and he hoped soon to see
religious differences abolished altogether. With regard
to the land, he admitted there were grievances, but
condemned the way in which some thought to obtain
redress—" by agrarian outrage." The Earl also
referred to the diminution of crime and other satis-
factory symptoms of progress. He held up the
English people as having strong sympathies with Ire-
land ; and with regard to the Irish Church, he hoped
that all parties would approach it with broad views
and generous impulses, and not influenced by merely
Party considerations or vetty jealousies. The speech,
it is stated, was " received with cordial manifesta•
tions."

The Liberals of Dublin are very joyful over the
unseating of Sir Arthur Guinness—the Conserva-
tives are proportionately very sad. It is one of the
heaviest blows that could have fallen upon them.
Especially are they ashamed of the fact that at the last
election everything, from the registrations onwards,
was done at the cost of their candidate. The wealthy
merchants, who talked do loudly of their "glorious
cause," let their enthusiasm end in talking, and Sir
Arthur had to put his Mind in his pocket to pay not
only the piper, but everybody else. They are going
to make up for it, however, by returning—or trying
to return—the next member at their own expense,

A FUNERAL PROCESSION.
A funeral procession, headed by a band playing
lively airs, and studded here and there by the bright
colours of banners and flags, seems singular to persons
accustomed to the subdued appearance of the hearse
and the mute. But the Holborn Branch of the Reform
League does not see any incongruity in such. a
procession, and is going to organise an inter-
national demonstration to commemorate the death of
Mr. Ernest Jones. The old Chartist flag of 1848 is
to be carried in front of the procession, tho green
flag is to be raised by some zealous Irishmen, the
Poles and Italians are to display their flags, and by
such means it is thought that 20,000 men will be got
together.

The admirers of Mr. Ernest Jones in Sheffield are
going to act much more sensibly than their brethren
of London. They propose to contribute towards the
support of the widow and the children of the deceased,
who, it seems, are left with slender means. A
committee to " stir men's minds " on the matter has
been ap:ointed.

LIFE IN THE WORKHOUSE. • •
Two stories of workhouse life, which carry their
moral with them, are told in the London papers of
yesterday. In one case, two men, who were ill at
Worcester in different stages of the same complaint,
" got muddled ;" the wrong medicine was given in
one of the cases, and the mail died in 20 minutes..
There did not seem to the coroners jury, how-
ever, to be any negligence. In the other case, a
man who was " not all right in his head " died of
syncope in the night. It appeared that he screamed
a great deal, but the wardsman (aged 74) Swore at
.him and those who surzeited that the doctoz.abould

be sent for. ,The man Med. tiere the jury -con-
sidered that an unpaid pauper 74 years of age was
not a fit person to be wardsman.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

Earnest philanthropists are making strenuous
efforts just now to prevent the increase of criminals,
and the Archbishop of Canterbury is president of a
society:whose object it will be to look after the " street
boys" of the metropolis. But is the present machinery
used as it might be ? There are industrial schools,
for instance—very few of them are full; and
as sure as the police bring destitute boys before the
magistrates they are snubbed as officious. It
is these boys who fill our prisons and the casual
wards of our workhouses. There is an Act which, if
properly carried out, would remove these " little
heathen ' from the streets and place them in schools.
Why is it not enforced ?