The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-25 00:00:00

THE LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING; DECEMBER 25.

THEATRE* ROYAL LYCEUM.'
Soie Lessee and Din 3ctress, Madame CELESTE.
TO-MORROW EVEb'IN G (Boxing Night) THE IRISH
TUTOR. Dr. O'Toole, Dir. John Drew.
Alter which, the Lyceum Christmas Comic Extravaganza,
rHE visiov OF A ROE. E. ITS FADING AT EVE,
AND THE MAY-BLOOM OF THE WILD BRIAR.
Followed by the comic Drs '.ma, entitled HANDY ANVilliers,
DY.
Messrs. Campbell, Johnston e, T. Lyon. Forrester,
Butler, and John Drew; Mrs. J. Rouse, Miss Hudspeth, Miss
M. Ternan, and Miss Neville.

A STLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.----
r=3l- Proprietor and Manage 'r, Mr. WM. BATTY.
This Evening', a new Spectt Icle, entitled THE LION
CONQUEROR ; or, The Death Jungle, expressly for the
introduction of the Wonders o 4 the World, " The Groupe
of Performing Lions." The Lion ,conqueror, Mr. J. Crockett.
To be succeeded by Scenes in 'the Arena, supported, by
talented Parisian and Bri`ish Art •Istes.
Concluding with Batty's Prize Equestian Comic Panto-
mime, for Good Little Boys and G Iris, by T. L. Greenwood,
entitled HARLEQUIN AND THE WONDERFUL
HORSE ; or, Percinet and Grocios s, the Ugly Dnchess and
the Greedy King, produced with G, orgeous Scenery. by Mr.
Cuthbert, new Costumes and Appoin, tments, and introducing
in the cosaie scenes Batty's Prize Equestrian Harlequinade,
and the celebrated Old Bob Ridley, an..d Brandon Ledger.
Harlequin .................. Mr. Sylvester.
Columbine
Clown r 11198, Hariet Dalton.
Pantaloon .
Mr. (;,.. Perks.
Mr. , Tames Cooke.
Sprites—Messrs. Thorne, Lockh art, and Sons.
Doors open at halt-Fast ti, pertormamte commenee at 7.
Box-office open daily fro 11 till .1
Stage Managmer—Mr. W. V irEFer.
Director of the Arena—Mr. Pearson.

CANTERBURY
Open Every Evening at Seven.
GRAND SELECTIONS (First Time) from LA FTGLIA
DEL REGIMEN TO (Donizetti), NORMA, SONNA3IBULA,
and MARTHA.
Principal Artistes Miss RUSSELL, Madame MARIA, Miss
TYRRELL, Miss WILLIAMS, Mr. HENRY HERBERT, C.
W. BERNARD, and Signor TIVOLI.
Musical Director...., Mr. F. JONOIMANS.
The Comic Department compri,Ts Messrs. J. BLANCHARD,
A. B. HOLLITQGSWORTH, Master BARRY, G. W. FELL,
CHARLEY Fox, and E. MARSHALL.
The Fine Arts Gallery has been enriched by the addition of
the late John Martin's three Grand Pictures—viz., " THE
GREAT DAY of FITS WitATFI JUDGMENT,"
" THE PLAINS of
HEAVEN," and " THE LAST on view
until 12 o'clock at Night.

HALL.

THE WEATHER.-.—SIIN OFFICE, Dic. 25, 1660.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADB.
29—highest since noon yesterday.
11—lowest this morning and during the night. The
coldest yet.
.22 this day at noon.
BAROMETER--29.40.
wr,D__yorth-Easterly—almost a calm ; with fog, and
bitterly cold

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
'fins DAY.—Molll,'ng, 1211. —m.—Afternoon, —h. —m.
TO-14d.ORROW.-Morning; 12h. 19m.—Afternoon, 12h. 43m

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THE SUN.
LONDON, TUESDAY, DEC. 25, 1860.

The Telegram received at the Foreign-office, as
well as by REUTER, at length confirms the news
from China via St. Petersburg in all its integrity.
We refer to another column for the conditions of
the Treaty of Peace, or rather compulsion, for the
Chinese would never listen to reason while any
chance remained for evasion—even from their own
professed compliance. While we may now exult that
the haughty bearing of the Tartar-Chinese Govern-
ment has been brought to its fitting level of abject
submission, we cannot but regret that the lives of
our confiding officers, beguiled under the sanctity
and protection of a flag of truce, have been sacri-
ficed to the mortified vengeance of a cruel people.
But the Chinese are now made to learn their own
weakness, and to pay proper homage to what
they in their vaunted pride styled us as mere
" outside Barbarians." Aye, and in that submission
they are made to pay—nothing, indeed, comparable
to the extent of their treachery—far less their
cruelty—yet still enough to humble them in their
own opinion throughout their immensity of space
and population, but in the eyes of the civilised
world. This is, indeed, a fitting sequel to their
assumed superioriy over the rest of the universe.
One of the articles stipulates that the treaty of
peace, with the humble apology of the Brother of
the Sun and Moon, shall be published all over China,
so that the people shall know who are the real
masters—the barbarians or the Emperor of the
Sacred Glance, as the Mandarins have styled the
tool of their cunning.
The sum of one hundred thousand pounds has
been extorted as a poor recompense to the families
of those victims to Chinese cruelty. But we can-
not agree that the Island of Chusan, the very
commanding key of the Great River of China
should have been given up to the Chinese a
second time. True, we have acquired a strip of
land or promontory near Hong Kong of more
salubrious quality, but that we might have got,
and kept Chusan as well. We affect to
be generous in our negotiations—but there are
times for justice —if not policy, as well as generosity.
Had we kept Chusan it would have acted on the fears
of the Chinese, and be the best and cheapest guaran-
tee for the continuance of peace, for such people are
kept on their good behaviour more from love for
their own safety than from any respect for their
rulers. We hope the Taku Forts will be retained
as an impartial guarantee.
The commercial business of the treaty promises
well. Universal free trade is to begin at onco, and
Tien-tsin, the Gravesend of Pekin, is to be opened
for commerce. So far so good. We wish it were
better.

Another Christmas Day! The world's eighteen-
hundred-and-sixtieth ! Another of those anniver-
saries that—year after year in the very depths of
each wintry season—came to gladden the hearts of
us all, and bring us nearer in thought and feeling
to one another—bringing us we might even
(at the risk of the reproach of sermonising)
venture to add, though it be through the
columns of a newspaper, nearer and nearer
in thought to Heaven. Gladdening the 'Harts of
us all we have said—bringing us all nearer and
nearer in feeling to one another, and in thought to-
wards Heaven ! Can we, however, say it ? Are we
justified in writing—with a strict and rigid regard
to truth—in words of such comprehensive generalisa-
tion ? It is true that the conviviality of this most
happy season spreads s• far and so wide, sinks so low
down in the social scale, that it penetrates even to
the poor pauper inhabitants of our humble work
houses. Christmas fare, Christmas cheer even to
the grey clad pauper population of the Union ! But
to all the population indiscriminately, to all ranks
and classes of the community without exception ?
THAT unhappily it were, alas ! rash to assert with
any confidence. For of whom was it that the late
Lord MACAULAY spoke almost as with a cry of
lamentation—when he bewailed the existence of
some who were no better, according to his famous
dictum, than " savages in the midst of civilisation
and heathens in the midst of Christianity." The)
are here amongst us to this day, these forgotten
pariahs of our social system. They are hid away
in the thick of this vast throng of 3,000,000 men,
women, and children peopling these wondrous twin
cities of London and Westminster. They are close
beside us, they are at our very doors ; they are there
in swarms in the back-slums and rookeries, festering
down dark lanes, behind our magnificent square:,
and gay thoroughfares. It is one of those Two
Nations of whom one of our most eminent states-
men and administrators—the right hon. gentleman
the member for Bucks, the leader of her MAJESTY'S
Opposition, has written a brilliant and affecting
story—that " ower true tale," that fiction foundec
upon fact, that enthralling romance based upon ax
appalling reality, " SYBIL, or the Two NatiOtif."

Old and hackneyed though the words are, they can I
never be reiterated too frequently, those aphoristic
words averring that one half of the world does not
know how the other half lives. It is a familiar
saying that can never be repeated too often, that
can never be uttered or written more appositely
than at Christmas time—when One Half, when more
than One• Half, when the immense majority of the
population is in the midst of its holiday enjoyments.
For all the while, even when the hapless paupers
in the workhouses are regaling on their Christmas
rations of roast beef and plum pudding—all the
while, outside the walls of the Union, hid
away in overlooked and unfrequented
corners, there remains a residue, a miserable
minority of the people, even in this happy
and thriving country, even in this rich and
prosperous capital, who are in no measure what-
ever influenced beneficially by the recurrence even
of Christmas. Nay, the wretchedness of this low-
liest minority of all (the very dregs of im-
poverishment) is such, is so extreme and utter
that the old threadbare axiom might, in their
regard, more appropriately run—that the other
part of the world knows nothing, not of the way
in which their neighbours :live, but of the way
in which they die ! It was the recollection of
this simple fact, that awoke the sympathies of an
anonymous philanthropist only the other day,

the recollection of this undeniable, notorious
and most lamentable fact, that occasional deaths
are recorded in Englard, in London, that occa-
sional deaths take place here amongst us, deaths
caused by actual starvztion ! Men, and women,
and children, it seemed frightful to this phi-
lanthropist to remember, are at intervals ab-
solutely fainting and dying in London, in the
midst of plenty, in the midst of luxury,
nay, in the midst of a charity that would rejoice
to alleviate all their miseries, were only these woes
we speak of brought to the knowledge of this sur-
rounding world of benevolence—a world inactive
in these instances, because unconscious of the
depth of poverty close at hand requiring instant
alleviation ! Clothes, fuel, bread, medical aid, reli-
gious assistance—all these in these extreme cases— I
are wholly and entirely wanting. And it was
with a view to lunt out these hidden distresses,
and to prevent thereby, as far as may be, in
every way practicable, the possibility of their
recurrence in future that a movement was recently
organished by W. D. B.—a movement cordially
aided towards its development by the co-operation
of many zealous sympathisers—a movement that
we do most earnestly trust may date a long and
prosperous course of beneficence from this very
Christmas Day. It is especially upon this first
Christmas Day that has arrived since the period of
its original advancement that we are desirous,
in a few matter of fact, but deeply heartfelt,
words, to commend this kindly scheme pro-
posed by W. D. B. to the sympathies of
the general public and to its powerful and
active co-operation. Let it be particularly
borne in mind in regard to this new scheme of
Charity for the most forlorn and the most destitute
that it has claims upon all who hear of it, claims
of a very impressive and remarkable character.
It is a charitable project, for example, that
is to be worked out wholly and solely by Volun-
teers. It is a charitable project of a kind in no
way whatever sectarian. It is a charitable scheme
that will give succour to those who are at once most
in need of it, and are nevertheless the most entirely
neglected. Above all, it is a charitable scheme that
will expend upon the poor themselves every single
farthing that may be contributed to the funds of
the association. Knowing this, remembering this
' —let us now, more particularly upon this holy
festival of Christmas, say from our hearts, GOD
bless and prosper this scheme of W. D. B. and his
numerous sympathisers.

Are infidels in England to enjoy the protection
of Law ? The question is suggested to us by a
I recent proceeding in the Rochdale County Court,
which, we confess, struck us as about one of the
hardest cases of religious intolerance we have seen
for some time. The essential facts were these.
An artist of the name of SAMUEL MADEN sued his
wife's stepfather for £6 35., the estimated value of
a -pianoforte, which it was alleged the stepfather
had wrongfully detained. The defence was that
the piano was the property of Mrs. MADEN'S
mother, the defendant's wife. The plaintiff, it
seems, had but one witness, Mrs. MADEN, or pro-
bably her evidence would have been so complete
that nothing further would be needed. She was
not, however, permitted to give it, so that we can
form no conception of what the grounds of her
claim would be. But, probably she would have
proved that her mother had given it to her before
she married her stepfather. C. TEMPLE, Esq., the
judge, did not, however, see fit to let the plaintiff's
witness tell the facts to the jury. The reason for
this will appear from the following dialogue be-
tween the witness and the judge.
When Mrs. MADEN stepped into the box, instead
of allowing her to be sworn and examined, the
defendant's counsel, Mr. STANDRING, commenced
questioning her on her religious belief. He asked
her whether she believed in a future state of
rewards and punishments. She answered in the
negative. The judge himself then took up the
examination :

Judge—You do not believe in any human re-
sponsibility for telling a lie ?

Mrs. Maden—Yes I do.
Judge—Except to society ?
Mrs. Maden—No.
Judge—Do you believe in a God who can punish
you for telling a lie ?
Mrs. Maden—No.

Judge—Then I cannot hear you, and I nonsuit
the plaintiff, with costs for the defendant's advocate.
If people will- insult public opinion in a court of
justice they must take the consequence..
Now, perhaps, Exeter Hall will applaud such
administration of justice—or rather of injustice,
and we shall be deemed infidels' friends,
infidels ourselves, perhaps, for uttering our
protest against such conduct on the part of a
judge. But if we mistake not, it is not merely a
grave infraction of religious liberty, and a violation
of common justice and Christian principle, but if
the same principle were carried out in Spain or in
Rome, Exeter-hall would be the first to complain.
It would get up a deputation to the Foreign Minis-
tar, and complain that Protestants were excluded
from the protection of the courts of justice, because
they " insulted the public opinion of the country."
Flad Mrs. MADEN been guilty of wantonly annoy-
ing any sect of religionists, by conduct offensive to
their feelings, we should have been the last to
excuse her. Nothing ought to be re
pect ed more than even the religious supersti-
tions of others ; but she merely answered, without
bravado, questions she was compelled to answer, she
was willing to take the oath and tell her story
quietly; and a judge from the bench, because her
creed, unfortunately for her, is at variance with
that of nearly all of us, declares her guilty of
" insult" for simply telling the truth in answer to
his own questions. We suppose if she had refused
to answer she would have been committed by him
'for contempt, or insult, of court; if she answers, it
Di still deemed insult, and punished with denial of

justice and costs. What, in the name of common
sense, was the poor woman to do ?
We say this is a denial of justice. In this indivi-
dual case, every reader will perceive that the
piano did belong to her husband, probably through
her. Mr. STANDEING would assuredly not have
relied on so outrageous a defence, if he had had a
better one. Inexcusable as we think his questions,
we cannot think so ill of him as to believe that
he would have demeaned himself to put them,
had it not been his only hope, and we may be
allowed to suppose, also, that he knew something
of the tempel" and religious prejudices of the
judge before whom he was to conduct the defence.
But it is the general case which is most im-
portant. Generalise it, and what does it amount
to, but denial of justice to infidels in every case
in which their obtaining it depends on their own
oath. Indeed it might easily happen that an
infidel's testimony would he the only one some
such Christian as Mr. TE➢IPLE himself might be
able to bring in his own case. What would he
then think of being nonsuited and saddled with
costs, because his witness happened not to be of
the same faith with the judge in regard to what
constituted the binding nature of an oath.
But the infidel himself, in a thousand cases,
might be wronged without the possibility, of re-
dress. He might be robbed with impunity in
solitude, since however certainly he might identify
the criminal, his oath, if he were willing to take
one, would be denounced as an "insult." We do
not see even how he could easily in any case prove
that his own name had been forged, or that he did
not owe money in cases'in which receipts are not
common, or even prosecute the man who had half
killed him by violence. The truth is, that
sound principle requires the placing of
all evidence before a jury which can
be got ; with or without oaths makes little
difference; the Jury and the Judge, too, are com-
petent to sift its value. It is quite easy from
the manner of witnesses, from the results of cross-
examination, and from accordance or discrepancy
with other testimony, to judge of the value of un-
sworn evidence—and it is for those who have to
decide in regard to the fact to have everything
before them. Evidence, even, which we cannot
altogether or at all believe, may yet afford a clue
to better evidence. One thing we hold to be clear
—infidels are Englishmen—they pay taxes—they
must obey the law, and if the laws will not protect
them, it must be made to do so.