The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-06 00:00:00

out of Colleen

Bawn
Marine
Dreadnought
Uncle Ned
Malpas 3
Yoicks 3
Borderor ..

RACING FIXTURES FOR 1860.
FEBRUARY.
Lincoln Spring 15 i Derby Spring 23
Nottingham Spring ....21
MARCH.
- -

Liverpool Spring
Shrewsbury Spring
Coventry

7

Warwick Spring 20
Northampton 27
Croxton Park 30

Newmarket C
Catterick Bridge
Taira

York Spring 17
Epsom Spring 20
Newmarket } S 23

12

Chester •

Doncaster Spring.
Salisbury
Bath

..... 8

Harpenden lB
Epsom 22
Manchester 3O
Ilungerford 3l
'NE.
Stockbridge 2l
'Winchester 22
Chelmsford 26
Newcastle

15
Ju

Ascot
Hampton
Newton
Odiham
Bibury Club

13

20
Jr

Newmarket J.
Carlisle
Worcester
Liverpool
Abingdon

3

Nottingham 17
Stamford l9
Marlborough
Goodwood 24

Brighton
Brighton Club
Wolverhaniptbn
Reading
Plymouth
Oxford

E glum 2l
York 22
Stockton 23
Lichfield 27
Derby 29

Warwick
Doncaster
Leicester

.... 6

Bedford
Newmarket S 0.

SHPT.

Hereford
Liverpool Autumn

OCT,

Monmouth 2O
Manchester Autumn 21
Newmarket F.O. 25
,BER.

Newmarket II 22
Worcester Autumn 30
:MBER.

Shrewsbury Autumn ....13

DISABILITIES OF AMERICAN

PERSOAS OF COLOUR.

TO THE EDITOR OF TIIE SUN.
SIR,—I beg to forward to you a correspondence which
has recently taken place between Miss S. P. Remond, a
free-born American lady of colour with whom I have the
honour to be acquainted, and Mr. Dallas, the American
Minister in this country. I add a copy of her passport.
You will observe that a visa to Miss Remond's passport
is refused by the American Minister on the sole ground that
she is a person of colour.—l am, &c.,
London, Dec. 29. A BARRISTER.

6, Grenville-street, Brunswick-square, W.C.,
Dec. 12, 1859.
Sir,—l beg to inform you that a short time since I went
to the office of the American Embassy to have my passposli
vised for France.
I should remark that my passport is an American one,
granted to me in the United States, and signed by the
minister in due form. It states what is the fact, that lam
a citizen of the United States. I was born in Massa-
chusetts.

Upon my asking to havo my passport visaed at the Ameri-
can Embassy, the person in the office refused to affix the
visa, on the ground that I am a person of colour.
Being a citizen of the United States, I respectfully demand
es my right that my passport be visaed by the minister of
my country.
As I am desirous of starting for the continent, I must
request an answer at your earliest convenience.—l remain,
sir, your obedient servant,

SAILAIL P. REHOND.
The Hon. --. Dallas, American Minister,
24, Portland-place.
Legation of the United States, London, Dec. 14, 1859.
bliss Sarah P. Remond.

lam directed y the Minister to acknowledge the receipt
of your note of the 12th inst., and to say in reply, he must,
of course, be sorry if auy of his countrywomen, irrespective
of colour or extraction, should think him frivolously dis-
posed to withhold from them facilities in his power to grant
for travelling on the continent of Europe, but when the in-
dispensable qualification for an American passport, that of
" United States Citizenship," does not exist; when, in-
deed, it is manifestly an impossibility by law that it should
exist, a just sense of his official obligations under certain
instructions received from his Government as long as the
Bth July, 1856, and since then strictly conformed to, con-
strains him to say that the demand of Miss Sarah P. Re-
mond cannot be complied with.—Respecfully your obe-
dient servant,

BINJ. MORAN, Assistant-Secretary of Legation.
Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of yesterday's date.
The purport of your communication is most extraordinary.
You now lay down the rule that persons free-born in the
United States, and who have been subjected all their lives
to the taxation and other burdens imposed upon American
citizens, are to be deprived of their rights as such, merely
because their complexions happen to be dark, and that they
are to be refused the aid of the ministers of their csuntry,
whose salaries they contribute to pay.—l remain, sir, your
obedient servant, SARAH P. REMOND.

PASSPORT.—T, the undersigned Secretary of State of the
United States of America, hereby request all whom it may
concern, to permit safely and freely to pass Sarah P. Ito-
mond, a citizen of the United States, and in case of need co
give her all lawful aid and protection.
Given under my hand and the impression of my seal of
the Department of State of the City of Washington, the 10th
day of September, A.D. 1858, in the 83d year of the Inde-
pendence of these United States. Lawis CAss.
Department of State.

Loss OF TIIE FLYING FOAM.—MADEIRA, Dec.
24.—The Flying Foam, from Cardiff to China, is totally
wrecked ; only six of the crew out of 21 saved.
RETURN OF THE IRISH ASSEMBLY'S DEPUTA-
TION 1,11.0111 AMERICA.—The Rev. Dr. Edgard, the Rev. S.
M. Dill, and the Rev. David Wilson—the Irish General
Assembly's Deputation to the United States of America—
landed at Queenstown at half-past two o'clock p.m., on
Wednesday last, after a somewhat tempestuous voyage.
We may mention that the friends in America of our mis-
sion schemes have sent the deputation and the mission
secretaries home some £6,000 richer than they wore upon
their departure.—Belfast Banner.

BALL AT ST. LUKE'S _HOSPITAL.

On Wednesday evening the annual Christmas
ball of the patients in this noble charity took place
in one of the large wings of the building, and, as
usual, passed off with the most marked success and
spirit. The ball-room had been entirely decorated
by the patients, who, of course, evinced the most
lively interest in all relating to the festivity. Their
efforts in this respect displayed a skill and good
taste which showed at once that no matter how
much the darkness of mental disease had benumbed
their other powers, it at least lied left their per-
ceptions of what was simple and beautiful alive in
all their force. Wreaths of evergreens and little
party-coloured flags were disposed about the room,
the roof of which was covered at all points with
festoons of coloured paper garlands, made with great
skill, and adjusted with considerable effect At one
side of the room was a large Christmas tree, the
vegetable characteristics of which were almost en-
tirely concealed under a crowd of ornaments of all
kinds—dressed dolls, bead mats, purses, and other
trifles, all made by the patients themselves, and
disposed to show them to the best advantage with
the utmost care and delicacy. The whole aspect
of the room was festive in the extreme, and
the touching innocence and childishness with
which all the patients entered into the dances,
little amusements, and games of the evening
was almost affecting, though gratifying, as show-
ing the perfect abandon of delight with which
they enjoyed their evening. The contrast which
such a scene almost irresistibly presented to the
mind's eye, as between the treatment of the insane
now and what it was a few years ago, was most
marked and striking. The days of strait-waist-
coats, darkness, bread and water, and floggings
have passed away for ever, and in their stead has
sprung up a system which gives such contentment
to the patients as secures them quiet if not happi-
ness, and which almost infallibly leads on to cure.
It would sound strange indeed to the supporters of
the old-school theory of treatment to be told that
in an hospital as large as St. Luke's not a single
strait-waistcoat is to be found, nor has there been
ode in the building for years and years past. The
most perfect gentleness, light air, amusements,
freedom from excitement, and nutritious diet
raise the cures at St. Luke's to no less than 681
per cent. per annum, or actually more than two out
of every three patients admitted. Under the old
system, of which Hogarth has left us such a fearful
Facture, the recoveries from this most awful of all
maladies were scarcely more than two or three per
cent. Unfortunately, the benefits which this magni-
ficent charity affords are comparatively but little
known. With the majority of the public it
passes for a mere madhouse, where luna-
tics are confined, when in fact it is an

hospital, like Bedlam, established for the
cure of insanity, and more especially for the
reception of members of the middle class—profes-
sional men and others, whose families, being de-
prived of their chief support, are unable to bear the
heavy expense required for maintenance in a private
asylum ; yet notwithstanding these boons, the num-
ber of in-patients at the hospital has been steadily
decreasing, from upwards of 200 in 1854 till the
past year, when the admissions were scarcely above
100 in all. Nothing could be more gratifying than
this decrease, if it arose from any diminution in the
number of persons smitten with this fearful visita-
tion. The reverse, however, is the case, the returns
of the Commissioners in Lunacy showing an increase
in the spread of the disease, which is alarming in
the highest degree, and which the faculty in vain
invent theories to account for. In fact, private and
expensive asylums are overcrowded—overcrowded
to an extent which prevents any individuality of
treatment—while a free hospital which effects the
largest amount of cures is left empty, and absorb-
ing its income in keeping up a proper and efficient
staff for the relief of patients who do not come.
Such an anomaly can only be accounted for by the
fact that the inestimable benefits offered to the af-
flicted at St. Luke's Hospital are not known, and
that, as we have said, with the public it is only
supposed to be a mere prison for the confinement of
the insane. So fur is confinement from being prac-
tised, that in fact both male and female patients
go beyond the precincts of the hospital almost
daily for walking exercise, and many of the least
afflicted have been trusted out on parole, without
any untoward result, while nearly all have visited
by turns the Crystal Palace, Zoological Gardens,
British and Indian Museums, and other exhibitions.
In addition to this, and in accordance with the re-
commendation of the Commissioners in Lunacy, the
whole interior of the hospital has been re arranged
in such a manner as to give it the lightest and
most cheerful aspect. Of course, such alterations
and improvements have not been effected without
great expense, which, together with the reduction
of income, has compelled the charity to resort to the
unforttnate expedient of selling out large sums
' from its funded stock, by which, of course, the in-
come of the charity has been reduced still more.
To supply this deficiency of receipts a new class of
hospital patients have been established, whose
friends contribute towards their maintenance. These
latter patients have nearly all been grouped as
nearly as possible in accordance with their social
positions, though nothing approaching to a differ-
ence of grade is recognised. The reception of this
class of patients has universally been hailed as a
great progress towards the amelioration of the con-
dition of the insane of the middle classes.

Several gentlemen interested in the welfare and
progress of the society were present, and contri-
buted by their vocal and instrumental performances
to the amusements of the evening. We need scarcely
say that the utmost good order and strict decorum
marked the conduct of the patients, who only testi-
fied by a little unusual exuberance of spirits now
and then at some favourite tune or song the pre-
sence of the dreadful malady which in the prime of
life and strength had stricken down their intellect
to a more than second infancy. The eager joy, too,
with which they received the presents on the Christ-
mas tree and partook of the cakes. &c., provided
for their refreshment was not the least gratifying,
though touching, part of the evening's proceedings.
Similar balls take place at the hospital once a fort-
night, though, as a matter of course, the new year's
ball of Wednesday night is always the event of the
year. Such an entertainment, so peculiar in itself,
requires to be seen to fully understand the many
comforts and amusements which the most awful of
all diseases still leaves within the enjoyment of the
patients at St. Luke's.