The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-18 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, NOV. 18, 18G9.

A FEW days ago there were gathered together at a
sumptuous feast the chief Ministers of the Crown and
the Chief Magistrate of London. Their hearts were
glowing with the sympathy induced by civic hospi-
tality, and they dilated upon the generous care which
England exhibited towards those who served her and
won her battles. This care, it was said, was not con-
fined to the soldiers and the sailors who fought in her
behalf; but, if they died, it was extended to
their widows and orphans. This was the
banquet aspect of the relations between the two
parties. This was the aspect which it was likely to
assume under the influence of good company and good
cheer. There is another, and, we fear, a truer aspect,
which is by no means so bright. We have more
than once had occasion to speak of the administration
of the Patriotic Fund. Of this fund the LORD
MAYOR of London is, ex qfficio, an ad-
ministrator ; but being so only by virtue
of his office, he may be pardoned for
being ignorant of the manner in which his fellow
administrators perform their duties. It would be
well, however, if he Were to inquire into the matter.
He would then find very little cause for that congra-
tulation upon the fostering love shewn by this coun-
try towards those who have special claims upon it.
Had he inquired before the Guildhall feast there
would have been less of laudation with respect to the
manner in which England performs one of her most
bounden duties.

The Patriotic Fund was subscribed during the
Russian war for the benefit of those who were then
serving by sea and land. Touched to the heart by
the "horrible and heartrending" sufferings of our
soldiers on the heights of Balaklava during the fear-
ful winter of 1854-5, Englishmen were more
than usually free of hand, and the money
which they subscribed exceeded a million
sterling. This large gift was entrusted to
persons eminent by rank, political position, or military
services, and who were selected by the QUEEN. The
money had been subscribed expressly for the benefit
of the men serving in that particular war, and of
their wives and children. The subscribers never
thought of taking upon themselves the duties belong-
ing to posterity. The idea of creating perpetual
endowments never entered into their heads. Their
duty was towards the men then fighting their battles.
If future wars should arise, it would be for those in
whose behalf they were waged to do as the donors
themselves were doing. The very magnitude of the
sufferings endured by our army strengthened the
motives which prompted their liberality. The soldier
frozen in the trenches was a vicarious-victim ; ho was
suffering for them. It was but little they could do
for him. Prayer went up for him day and night in
many an English household all through that fearful
winter, and, beyond this, all that they could do they
did. They gave of their substance, and contributed the
largest charitable fund that has ever been raised be-
fore or since.

It is likely to prove the largest through all time to
come. For it is melancholy to think how grievously
this magnificent freewill offering has been misapplied.
Its mismanagement has been so gross that Englishmen
will never again entrust their charity to a commission,
Royal though it be. The one great fault has been
that, whereas this fund was intended solely for
certain persons or their surviving relatives, a
large portion of it has been appropriated to
remote posterity. What proportion of it has been
sunk in the palatial schools at Wandsworth it would
be difficult for outsiders to say ; but we know that
the late Honorary Secretary had to resign his post
because of his outspokenness with regard to this matter.
Not only was the capital sunk therein prodigiously
in excess of what any institution of the sort should
have cost (and no such institution at all ought to have
been built out of the Patriotic Fund), but the cost of
maintenance was most extravagantly large. Something,
too, might be said about the cost of the head office in
Spring Gardens, with its numerous well-paid officials,
who admirably fulfil what seems to be thought the
first duty of well-paid officials—snubbing applicants
for grants, while they squander money in works of
construction. They might have been pardoned for
building such places as the Victoria Asylum had they
first supplied fully the wants of all those for whom
the Fund was subscribed. If every widow or
orphan of our brave soldiers and sailors were now
living in comfort, so that to grant additional funds
to them would be a waste of money or misapplication
of charity—then the Commissioners might have said:
The generous English nation has subscribed so
liberally that it has enabled us to meet the wants of
all those whom it wished to relieve, and yet to have a
large surplus ; let us, therefore, think of others who
may not be so fortunate, for whom there may be no
such stirring appeal. This would have been a proper
c y pres application of the Fund. But so far from
the primary object having been fulfilled, there are
numerous relatives of the sailors and the soldiers who
took part in the Crimean campaign who are in abso-
lute want. Others there are to whom relief has been
doled out with miserable parsimony; and in one
case, at least, it has come in the form of a payment
for burial, having been implored in vain in the
shape of medical attendance. Another and
most serious wrong is the manner in which
it has been sought to restrict the persons
to whom grants are considered applicable.
The terms of the Royal Commission state that the
fund is to be administered in accordance with the
liberal spirit and intentions of the donors. The very
opposite spirit has prevailed and still prevails. Instead
of including, as the donors wished, every person who
could by any possibility be included, the Commis-
sioners, or at all events the Executive Committee,
seem to have been influenced by the desire to keep
out everyone who could on any pretence be excluded.
Some months ago we gave illustrations of this injus-
tice. We will now give another.
During the Russian war the militia had to servo
on foreign stations, taking the place of the troops
who had gone to the Crimea. The militia were not
absolutely under fire, yet they were subjected to all
the chances of sickness caused by residence in some-
times unhealthy climates, and they had to perform
all the duties which regular soldiers have to fulfil in
a garrison during time of peace. But for the war
they would not have left England, and many of them

would have been spared from the illness which in
some cases proved fatal. Those who died were as
much victims of the war as though they had fallen
in the trenches before Sebastopol. Nevertheless by
one of those arbitrary acts, utterly antagonistic to
"the liberal intentions of the donors," the widows and
the orphans of militia officers have been excluded
from all participation in the Fund. It may be said ,
that as a rule militia officers are gentlemen of private
fortune, and undoubtedly they often are so. But
when they have been it is not likely that their widows
or orphans will apply for relief. The condition, how-
ever, is by no means universal, and what we complain
of is, that while it is not, the rule is. The committee
have lately had before them the case of the
widow of a militia officer who died of disease
contracted at Corfu, and who, though absolutely
destitute, is refused all relief. The injustice is the
more grievous because the applicant is the daughter
of a distinguished officer who served with NELSON,
and has had three brothers who have died in the
service. The Patriotic Fund is so large that in order
to get rid of it an untold sum has been sunk in bricks
and mortar, and yet here is a lady born and bred, the
daughter of one of our great Sea Captain's comrades,
the sister of three young officers who lost their lives
in behalf of their country, and the widow of another
officer who died in consequence of that very war
which gave rise to the Fund, and she is penniless. If
neither the Committee nor the Commissioners will
learn their duty better than this, the Press and Par-
liament must teach them.

No subject can have greater interest than emi-
gration to a people likely soon to take the lead
among emigrating nations. Ireland has had her
day, Germany is having hers, and England's is
dawning. It may be difficult to work out the rea-
sons why a whole people should suddenly be smit-
ten with the mania to emigrate. But this has hap-
pened in all ages, the main cause being distress.
Naturally the Irish are less inclined to emigrate
than the English, for they are less enterprising, and
nothing but the force of a tremendous calamity
could have impelled the move. But once fairly
under way, the impetus was kept up, because Irish
colonies were founded in the United States by the
first exodus, and Hibernian families naturally
floated to settlements where their friends and rela-
tives were already located ; but nothing less strong
than starvation could have had the initial effect, and
it will remain a marvellous effort for so ignorant
and poverty-stricken a community. German emi-
gration is a more steady movement, because it
springs from a general and, growing knowledge among
the people that they can better their condition by
settling on the healthy, fertile, and unoccupied lands
of the United States. The difference is that the
German is attracted, while the Irishman h ejected ;
hence German emigration will probably increase,
till the depletion raises the value of handiwork, as
well as lessens the difficulty of obtaining land in Ger-
many ; that is, decreases the attraction by bringing
up the home advantages. The position of Euglan 1
has been peculiar. Probably
the English are
better qualified for emigration than the Germans
or the Irish, and as such ought to have led in the
exodus ; but since the close of the Napoleonic wars
England has been growing in manufacturing great-
ness in an unparalleled degree, and tLough her
people emigrated, it was from the country to the
towns. It is this which has turned aside the flow
abroad ; but manufactures are an unstable support,
and the check by the close of the American war, as
well as by the gradual rise of competing industries
on the Continent, have eventuated in the distress
now prevailing. The Irish exodus was due to the
potatoe disease; the English exodus will be the re-
suit of foreign competition in manufactures, followed
by a depression of trade, with the consequent want
of employment. It has been ascertained that dur-
ing great distress,or revolution,or national distrust
emigration increased from Europe, for the force of
attraction became greater as also that of ejection ;
but in years of European peace and prosperity,
while depression prevailed in America, both being
lessened, emigration responded in a marked degree.
As England is now Buffeting, and must continue to
suffer, English emigration is now increasing, and
will continue to increase, and the effect is distinctly
shown iu the emigrati)n returns from Liverpool.
With the year ending in June, 214,748 mile, and
137,821 female etnigrauts landed in the United
State:. Of these Germany furnishe I 132,537,
Ireland 64,938, not a half, and but barely over that
of the neighbouring island of Great Britain, which
supplied 60,28 G. This is a remarkable fact, and
one worth noticing, for its influence will be strongly
felt after the lapse of a few years. Interpreted
into plain English, it means that America is being
Germanized, that Irish influence is on the wane,
and English influence on the increase. It is not
improbable that the emigration of the English and
Scotch actually exceeded the Irish, for the United
States receisred 20,918 from the British provinces.
English emigration is directed, as far as some
well-intentioned though ill-informed men can di-
vert it, to Canada, where the labour market being
comparatively small the drift is across the border
into the United States. Hence the probability that
the majority of these 20,918 were British, and it
may now be assumed that British emigration to the
United States is as rapidly increasing as that of
Ireland is decreasing, and having already be-
come little short of equal, the excess will soon
be largely English. Throughout Great Britain
those who inquire among working men and other
classes can feel and see the increasing movement. It
is shown, too, by the numerous emigration;schemes,
among which we may notice next week a novel one
about to bebrought into operation. That the Union is
alive to the movement may be seen in the efforts
of each State to direct to its soil a portion of
the stream. Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Co-
lorado are all in the field. Virginia is making
special efforts, but mainly in the Northern States.
The South has combined to achieve this object, and
it is probable it will despatch an agent to Europe as
advocated by the Louisville Convention, to act for
the State Governments. In late years close on half
the emigrants who landed in New York were Ger-
mans, the actual figures being forty-nine per cent.,
but in the face of the coming movement in Eng-
land this proportion is not likely to be main-
tained. Already English working men are urging
their Government to give aid, and as their political
influence becomes more felt, emigration will more
occupy the attention of the Legislature. Some
curious facts are recorded by Mr. FREDERIC KAPP,
a commissioner of emigration, in a paper he read
the other day to the Social Science Meeting of the
American Association. The emigrants of last cen-
tury contracted for their transport by temporary
servitude on their arrival. Adults had to serve three
years, children from ten to twelve, and young chil-
dren were surrendered without charge to their mas-
ters, who had to rear them. On arrival the passengers
were sold to the highest bidder, sound agricultural
labourers and sturdy mechanics fetching a good
price, while military officers and scholars were un-
saleable, the value being in inverse ratio to educa-
tion. Runaway servants lengthened their term one
week for each day of absence, and the unexpired
term was of value to the master, as it was saleable.
It was not till 1819 that the last of such sales was
recorded in Philadelphia. From the outbreak of
the American Revolution till the close of the NA-
POLEONIC wars the immigration was from 3,000 to
4,000 a year, but then it took a fresh start. In
1826, 7,709 emigrants landed from the United
Kingdom ; next year 11,952, and in the following
17,840. Then the tide again turned, and it sank
by 1830 to 3,874. From 1845 to the end of 1854
Ireland sent 1,512,100 emigrants to the Republic.
Afterwards this exodus largely fell off, but it was
taken up by Vie Germans, who turned their atten-
tion to Ainerici, on the failure of the Revolution in
1849-51. In the same period, from 1845 to the end
of 1854, the German emigrants numbered 1,226,392,
and it is stated that from May 5,1847, to Jan. 1,1859,
the number, of all nationalities, which arrived at the
port of New York alone was 4,038,992. Mr. KAPP
considers that tio population of the United States
would have increased but little had immigration
been stopped in 1825 ; the natural increase he esti-
mates at less than 1.38 per cent. yearly, while the
actual increase in the decade from 1840-50 was
35.87, and in the next 35.59. It is not easy to

744-

comprehend. the full value to the Reps hi-ic of the
300,000 immigrants annually received, but, a few facts
are given to help us. An immigrant the United
States is as a producer worth as much aF; a native
born labourer of the same ability. Now , it is cal-
culated that an American farmer, or skilled work-
man, costs $1,500 before he becomes sqilf-support-
iug, and a female half that sum. Many immigrants
are more skilled than any native woikmen, while
men greatly predominate over women among the
new comers. Hence, although a fifth are children, still
the Emigration Commissioner considers $1,125 to
be a fair average value. This is what it would cost
the Union to raise people of the same productive
powers, which has instead fallen upon the country
they left. Yet this by no means represents all the
gain. An attempt was made in 1856 to discover
what amount of money each immigrant brought
into the country, and the average, taken from their
replies, appeared to be $6B; but this is probably
untrue, for a man just landing is little likely to
tell the inquirer what money he carried. The latest
estimates are for each German $2OO, calculating
clothes and tools ; but Mr. KAPP reduces that ave -
rage to what he calls the low figure of $l5O. He
credits to the German immigration a cash import of
• $11,000,000 annually, and of $37,000,000, includ-
ing his baggage. Adding $l5O to the average cost of
the individual as a producer the sum i 551,275, which
on an immigration of 300,000 shows a yearly gain to
the country of $382,500,000. That the United
States is interested to an enormous extent in Euro-
pean emigration is sufficiently shown by these
figures, but it is not wise to calculate solely the
material gains. The Irish, with their keen sense
of centuries of wrong, imported a dangerous cha-
racter into American politics, while their clanish-
ness and ignorance enabled unscrupulous politicians
to use them as tools and to build up a gigantic sys-
tem of corruption. German free thought does not
find a congenial soil in the Eastern States, but soon
considerable communities will be purely German,
and it will then perhaps be difficult to mould their
descendants into the national type. It is not easy
socially to blend those who speak another language,
and merman tastes differ widely from those of
Americans. They are more domestic, less excit-
able, caring nothing for politics, from which they
have hitherto kept aloof. Such a thing as a Ger-
man Woman's Rights Woman is unknown, for
they have found it neither profitable nor attractive
to rave at their destiny of bearing children, while
they have found it both profitable and attractive to
make their homes comfortable for themselves as well
as their families. The clanishness of the Irish and
BRIDGET'S social, religious, and national notions
prevent a fusion with the native-born citizens.
Hence the divisions may be broadly defined as the
American, the German, and the Irish, We believe
that a good class of English emigration sent in a
magnitude to make itself directly felt would have a
happy social and political effect. It would directly
strengthen American institutions which would be
easily understood and fully appreciated by a good
class of English workmen. American church con-
gregations would be increased, Protestantism up-
held, and the native-born inhabitants would soon
feel that in English immigration they were really
securing allies. This is what we have ceaselessly
tried to impress on the minds of both, and we have
often pointed out that the result would only be
in a lesser degree beneficial to England than to
America.—A nylo - A inerican nines.

UNIT' ERSI7 Y INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD, Nov. 17.

In a Convocation held this day at two o'clock,
the following members of Convocation were re-
elected to serve the office of Commissioners under
the Act 27 and 28 Victoria, cap. 68, entitled
" Au Act to amend the Local Government Act of
1858 so far as it applies to Oxford," and under
" The Local Government Supplemental Act, 1865
(No. 5)" :—The Dean of Christ Church, the War-
den of New College, Professor Bernard, and Mr.
Harcourt, of Christ Church.
At a meeting of the Heads and Senior Bursars
of Colleges and th© Heads of Halls held this day
at three o'clock, eleven Commissioners wera elected
under the Act 27 and 23 Victoria, cap. 68, entitled
"An Act to Amend the Local Government Act
of 1858 so far as it applies to Oxford," an 1 un-
der "The Local Government Supplemental Act,
1865 (No. 5)." The only changes made in the
Board were the substitution of Mr. Wilson, of
Exeter College, and the Rev. E. F. Glanville, like-
wise of Exeter College, for the Rev. C. L. Wing-
field, of All Souls', and the Rev. T. iteunison, of
Queen's.
The Junior Proctor has this day issued the lists
of candidates for Moderations. In the Classical
School there are 347 candidates, of whom 91 aspire
to honours. In the Mathematical School, which is
wholly an honour school, the number of candidates
is 20.

In the Convention to be holden on Saturday, the
20th instant, at a quarter to two o'clock, it will be
proposed that the Curators of the University Chest
be authorised to pay a sum of £5O to the vicar of
Kirkdalc.

In the same Convocation the name of Robert
Faussett, M.A., student of Christ Church, who has
been nominated by the Vice-Chancellor and Proc-
tors as Auditors of Police Accounts on the part of
the University, will be submitted to the House.
In a Convocation to be holden on Thursday, the
25th inst., at 2 o'clock, the following decree will
be submitted :—" That the Curates be authorised
to pay out of the University chest a sum of £2OO
to assist Mr. John Henry Parker in carrying on
the excavations at Rome, on which he has for some
time past been engaged."
In the same Convocation to be holden on Thurs-
day, the 25th inst., at two o'clock, the following
form of statute will be promulgated :—" Placuit
Universitati : Statt, Tit. XIX., Sect. V.—lle exa-
minatione candidatorum qui non sunt de corpore
Universitatis, post verba in ejus locum sufficiaut'
(p. 283, ed. 1869), lima gum sequuntur inserere :
4Liceat delegatis puellas inter candidatos adnume-
rare.'" This proviso will, if carried, allow of the
examination of girls by the University at the Local
Examinations.

In a Congregation to be held immediately after -
wards two new forms of statute will be promul-
gated—one on the subject of the Ashmolean Mu-
seum and Keeper, the other on the subject of the
Readership in Hindustani. The lapse of time
makes it necessary to renew the Readership Statute.
A change in the Ashmolean Statute is proposed in
consequence of an offer made by Mr. Parker, the
antiquarian, to endow the Keepership with £250 a
year in addition to the present stipend. It is pro-
posed to make Mr. Parker the Keeper at the first
vacancy in the office.

Draughts of the 26th (Cameronians) and the 71st
Highlanders have been ordered to hold themselves
in immediate readiness to join their respective re-
giments abroad. The 92d (Gordon) Highlanders
will also send a draught shortly. One company of
93d (Sutherland) Highlanders will leave Perth and
do duty in Stirling until the arrival of the
regiment from India. The depot companies of the
74th Highlanders have left Stirling to join the
head-quarters of the Highland depot battalion at
Aberdeen. The depot companies of the 79th
Highlanders will also leave Stirling on the 22d
curt., to join the head-quarters of the Highland
depot battalion at Aberdeen.

Colonel W. F. D. Jcrvoise, R.E., Deputy
Director of Works for Fortifications, resumed his
duties at the War Officd yeAerday, having re-
turned front Lis official visit to Bermuda on Mon-
day last.

The very extensive Distillery now being erected
at Belfast, with all recent improvements for the manufacture of
Irish whisky, by Messrs. DUNVILLE & Co., who have gained
a world-wide celebrity for their fine old Irish whisky, is to be
called "The Royal Irish Distillery."