The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-17 00:00:00

-is-the-one essentially _vgariLing. measUr e.offered.
to the first working-class Parliament. But that class
is also vitally interested in the abolition of the rating
clause of the Reform Bill and in the extension of

---~LE~'TI~'-

education. All classes and parties will join in the
prayer with which this unusually well-written Speech
concludes, and trust that under divine guidance the
counsels of Parliament may be brought to a happy
issue.

The vast importance of providing some improved
accommodation for our working classes has long been
apparent to all social reformers. From whatever
point of view we regard the matter we must acknow-
ledge it to be one of prominent interest. The public
health is seriously affected by the over crowded state
of the ill-drained and the ill-ventilated tenements.
Fever in all its forms hovers about the miserable
courts, and lanes, and alleys of our cities, and spreads
its insidious influence to richer and healthier quarters.
The children brought up in such localities can hardly
fail to show through life the traces of their malign
agency, while in every outbreak of cholera or other
epidemic these wretched houses swell the death list
by hundreds and thousands. In a moral aspect the
case is evenlworse. Preachers and philanthropists,
wearied with fruitless efforts, are forced to acknow-
ledge that there is but little use in schools and
sermons when the daily life offers such terrible
temptations. In homes where decency and cleanli-
ness are unattainable blessings, of what use is it to
train the young in the careful and orderly habits of
schools and institutions ? When the common neces-
saries of air and water are luxuries scantily
doled out, who can expect to see the overworked
wife and mother investing her wretched rooms
with the cheerful air of the homely fireside. When
dirt and squalor and discomfort are all the attractions
that the domestic hearth offer to the wearied labourer,
how can we hope that he will withstand the terrible
fascinations of the public-house ? It would be diffi-
cult, perhaps impossible, to measure with any accu-
racy the social and moral degradation resulting from
this monster evil. If it had no other effect than that
of enhancing the temptations offered to the work-
man by the lights and the company of the fatal bar,
it would be worth every exertion to remove it. It
must appear to those who are forced to live in such
miserable places as every populous lane and alley in
London can show us, a mockery to hear the denizens
of broad streets and spacious rooms telling them of
social and moral virtues, whose practice is absolutely
beyond their reach. No doubt the ignorance and in-
difference of the poor in all matters of sanitary know-
ledge are something marvellous. Their dread of fresh
air is chronic, their neglect of drainage and their love
of accumulated rubbish, are painfully familiar to all
who see much of the interior of their hous..s. Very
often by such management they make an in-
different habitation unhealthy, a bad one
worse; but how can we hope to improve
their knowledge under the circumstances in which
they generally live? The rent is the great bugbear,
and the landlord is to them the most terrible of mor-
tals. He is usually very well. aware of his power,
and not much inclined to lay out money on buildings
which are certain not to be long empty while
they hold together. Those who have had the curio-
sity or the interest to explore some of the labyrinth
of courts and alleys which are making room for the
Carey-street improvements—Serle's-place, Bell-yard,
Clement's-lane, and its environs--may well shrink
from preaching too didactically to the London poor 1
There will always,:no doubt, be benevolent persons
ready to subscribe their money for good and tangi-
ble objects, and this question of decent homes for the
working classes is one upon which men of every shade
of opinion may agree, but the mischief is that the
evil is not one with which private charity is compe-
tent to deal. The population of London is so vast
that even the munificence of individuals like Mr.
PEABODY or Miss BURDETT COUTTS, fails to make a
a sensible impression, however locally beneficial,
and therefore those who can show us that improved
dwellings for the working classes cau actually
be erected as a profitable investment will
do immense service to the cause. This
desirable object has been attained by the
company of which Lord STANLEY, Sir SYDNEY
WATERLOW, Mr. GOSCHEN, and Alderman FINNIS
are the principal members, and it is very gratifying
to know that at their meeting at the Mansion House
on Monday, the statetnent of accounts was most en-
couraging. A dividend of 5 per cent. is all that the
directors think it right to pay the shareholders at
present, but this removes the affair entirely from the
list of charitable associations, and renders it a prudent
investment. The terms upon which the Government
loan is obtained are highly favourable, and the neces-
sity of appealing to the public for further subscrip-
tions is obviated by its means. The company have at
present eight different properties completed and occu-
pied, with a total of 572 tenements ; the largest
being Stanley Buildings, at St. Pancras, which
accommodates 104 families, and the smallest Cobden
Buildings, King's-cross-road, with 20 tenements.
Buildings are in course of completion which will
accommodate 202 more families, so that, reckoning
five persons to each family, we may estimate that
decent and comfortable homes will soon be provided
for 3,890 persons.

P 69
TFIE SUN,_ LONDOIT,„...WEDNESDAY EVENINA ..EgBRITARY 1 :

zl-~~.

The allegations made by the petitioners at Coventry
against the return of Messrs. Eaton and Hill were thus
summed up by Mr. Henry James in his opening address.
The amounts paid to bribe the voters were but small, but
that was because they were in very needy circumstances.
Some of the persons bribed were non-resident, and it would
be shown that about 30 were brought from Leicester, to
which place they had migrated in search of work. A person
named Parker managed the matter, and informed these men
that a friend to the cause had lent a vehicle to bring them to
Coventry, but it would be shown that this friend was an
imaginary person. A man was dressed up as a livery ser-
vant, and a van full of voters, was driven over by him, and
they were told that as soon as the election was over it would
be made all right ; and Parker accordingly paid them 153.
each. Mr. Parker was the acting agent for the sitting mem-
bers, and would be put in the witness-box, and he would be
unable to deny these facts. Moreover, it would be proved
that £4O passed to Mr. Parker, from Alr. Kilby, an acknow-
ledged and active agent, for these payments. He complained
that his witnesses had been systematically approached
both by menaces and bribes. Similar payments were
made to voters from Dudley, Birmingham, and London,
who received each 503. It would seem nothing more than
an act of retributive justice when reminded his lord-
ship that the election of July 1867 was voided on the
ground of five men receiving 103. each for coming from
Birmingham to Coventry to vote for Mr. Jackson. The
learned judge remarked that if witnesses were kept out of
the way, the inference would be that they knew something
that would void the election.

A boat's crew, consisting of six men, who
attempted to relieve the lighthouse•keeper on the Calf
Rock, near Dorsey Island, on the southern coast of Ire-
land, but were unable to land, owing to the violence of
the storm on Friday last, were unfortunately drowned
while endeavouring to make their way back to the main-
land.

SUICIDE BY A SULKY BOY.-011 Monday a boy
named William Sandford, aged 15, who had been employed
in Mr. Upton's printing establishment, Birmingham,
during the past two years, committed suicide by hanging
himself. On Friday last his dinner was not quite ready
at the appointed hour, and he became sullen in his manner,
and intimated to his mother that if it occurred again he
would hang himself.
CHIEF CLERKS IN CIIINCERY.—Mr, C. J. Allen,
solicitor, has been appointed additional chief clerk to Vice-
Chancellor James, making three chief clerks. An addi-
tional chief clerk will be forthwith appointed to Vice-
Chancellor Malin& It is said that a gentleman named
Pritchard will be selected. There will be three chief clerks
at each of the several chambers, making twelve chief
clerks in Chancery. Mr. Field and Mr. Hart have been
appointed the assistant-clerks to the new chief clerk at
Vice-Chancellor James's chambers.
THE MURDER CASE AT BOLTON.—Mary Craw-
ford, against whom a coroner's jury returned a verdict of
wilful murder, for having thrown her child into a reservoir
a few weeks ago, gave herself up to the police on Monday
night. She confessed the crime, and said she did it because
she could not maintain herself and the child. Since the
occurrence she has been working at a factory at Tottington,
near Bury, but the account of the murder which appeared
in the newspapers so preyed upon hermind that she resolved
to surrender herself. She seems to be deeply distressed
about the crime she has committed.
MR. CHARLES DICKENS. —On Tuesday evening
the following notice was exhibited at St. James's Hall :
" Unavoidable Postponement.—Messrs. Chappell and Co.
beg to announce that Mr. Dickens has yielded to the fol-
lowing prohibition, at the last moment, with the greatest
reluctance :—' Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1869 We, the under-
signed, hereby certify that Mr. Charles Dickens is suffering
from inflammation of the foot (caused by over-exertion),
and that we have forbidden his appearance on the plat-
form this evening, as he must keep his room for a day or
two.—Sir HENRY THOMPSON, F, IL C. S- ; F. CARE
BEARD, F.R.C.S.'" It was also announced that the
reading thus postponed would be given on Tuesday, April
27, and that ticket-holders could either have their money
returned or exchange their tickets for tickets admitting
them to the next reading.

HOME PRODUCTION OF MEAT. —lt is believed
that, without any larger consumption of sheep and cattle
food than at present, we may so augment our annual home
production of meat that the increase would exceed our
total yearly importation. And to secure this grand result
all that we require is a reasonable measure of success in
saving from destruction those wasted portions of our flocks
and herds which, after being reared and fed upon valuable
food, now perish by preventible diseases. If legal regula.
tions against the travelling or exposure in fair or market
of animals suffering from cattle plague, pleura-pneumonia,
foot-and-mouth disease, smallpox, scab, &c.; if sanitary '
regulation of the transit of animals by ship, railway, or
road ; if compulsory isolation or slaughtering in some
cases ; if separation of store stock from fat stock, and if
separation of imported from home-bred animals 'were
moderately successful iu repressing contagious diseases,
we might easily improve our home supply till the increase
was equivalent to a doubling of the importatiodi or, bi
other words, to an additional 5 per cent. o AO' isiiiAnp;
tion.—Chamber of AgrfolNie Atieide

The defence to-tease out by the petitioners
against Mr. Smith's return for Westminster was corn•
Ifieheed- yeSteldaY; mid Mi. Smith himself was uncle/
examination. In his opening speech, Mr. Hawkins
declared that some of the witnesses who had been pro•
duced were guilty of the grossest perjury—he
referred more particularly to Charles and Join;
Wheeler, who, it would be found, were the
originators of the petition. One of the brothers claimed
a sum of money from Mr. Smith's agents, but instead
of paying it as they would have done had they been con-
scious of the existence of corrupt practices, they
repudiated the claim, and to that circumstance the sub
aequent conduct of the men was traceable. With
regard to the large amount of money stated to have
been expended by Mr. Smith, Mr. Hawkins said every
shilling of, it could be accounted for, and although
vouchers had been omitted In some Instances, that had
arisen not from a desire to conceal the items of the ex-
penditure, but simply from a belief of those who were en.
trusted with the filing of the accounts that it was unneces.
sary. Mr. Edwards, it was admitted, had suffered impri-
sonment in consequence of his having removed witnesses
who were required at the election inquir7 at St. Alban's
in 1851, but nothing could be more untrue than that he
had been brought to London for the purpose of bribing
Westminster voters. With regard to the exhi-
bition of advertising boards, he thenght no better
proof of the absence of corruption respecting them could
be furnished than the open way is which they
were distributed, and the fact that those by whom they
had been exhibited were invited to attend at the Trafalgar,
Charing-cross, where they were paid. As regarded the
champagne supplied at the Merlin's Cave, South Molton.
street, Mr. Walker, the landlord, would swear that he
gave it at his own expense. In the other cases which
alleged treating, Mr. Davis would give an account of
the transaction, and deny that he had offered a bribe
of £5 to Waterman, and given ss. to mother man.
Mr. Smith's answer to the allegations of the petitioner
was very decisive. He declared that, with respect to
expenditure of money, he always wished it to be under-
stood that if be went into Parliament he raust go there
with hands perfectly free from all kinds of dirt. He said
emphatically that he was not conscious of any corrup-
tion having been exercised on his• behalf either in 1865
or in 1868, and he was convinced that the accounts
returned represented his actual expenditure. Mr. Serjeant
Ballantine then proceeded to carry the witness's recollec-
tion to what-the learned gentleman termed "the pleasanter
atmosphere of the Merlin's Cave and the champagne
meeting." The witness said he was invited by a letter
written to him by Charles Wheeler to be at this house by
half-past eight one night, and on- going there, greatly to
his disgust, he found the people drinking. Mr. Walker,
the landlord, was in an excited condition, and saying some.
thing about the pleasure and honour of having the candi-
date under his roof, he brought in some champagne,
to witness's horror an d amazement---(laughter)—and banded
it round. Witness was unable to retire, so he drank some
champagne, made a short speech, and then went, but not
without complaining to his agents of his being called to
attend such a meeting, and declaring that he would go to
no more public.house meetings. He hod not paid, indi-
rectly or directly, for the champagne and other drinks,
and it had not been paid for on his behalf. The house was
one frequented by working men, but was not used for the
purposes of the election. Questioned by Mr. Stephens as
to whether his declaimer relative to his published accounts
containing all his expenditure applied to 1865 as well as
to 1868, witness said he was not prepared to say that
there were absolutely no accounts in 1865 beyond those pub-
lished, but be had not looked at those accounts since 1865,
and there was no necessity for looking at those accounts.
He was then pressed to say whether there was or was not a
" considerable sum," " a very considerable sum," beyond
the amount stated in his account of 1865 expended by him
or for him, and the witness replied that he had hesita-
tion in answering the question, as when the election
of that year was over he feared some bills from his own
firm, which was then himself, were not sent in for
printing which was done on his behalf. Cross-examined by
Mr. Stephens, the witness said he had known Edwards
for forty years, and though he didnot know that Edwards
had distributed as much as £BO,OOO in the St. Alban's
elections, yet he knew it was a very large sum. He did
not know that Edwards was imprisoned for keeping
witnesses out of the way from the House of Commons
committee, but believed he was imprisoned for not answer.
ing a question.