The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

It has been said that Mr. Peabody intended his houses
rather for the poor and destitute than for the artizan class.
The Times declares that this is not so. He designed only
to institute and for ever maintain on fair terms of payment
a supply of certain accommodation grievously needed
by the labouring classes of the metropolis, and very
insufficiently as well as indifferently furnished. A
working man in London, owing to a twofold
operation of circumstances, was sorely put to it to find a
decent lodging, even with the means of paying for it in his
pocket. Large works undertaken by railway and other
companies brought vast numbers of workmen to London,
while at the same time the clearings made for these very
works destroyed street after street of working men's
lodgings. Nor did the reconstruction of these dwellings
invite the enterprise of ordinary capitalists. Houses of a
higher class were multiplied indefinitely, but small tene-
ments were not regarded as an eligible property, and
builders declined to embark their funds in such in-
vestments. The consequence was a pressure for lodg-
ings, attended with extreme distress, and this was the
suffering which Mr. Peabody resolved on alle-
viating. He has placed in the bands of trustees a large
sum of money to be expended upon convenient and whole-
some dwellings so situated and so priced as to give the
working poor of the metropolis such lodgings as they
need. These homes are not rent-free, but the rent
is fair, and every sixpence of it when paid goes to a fund
for providing other workmen with similar accommodation
at a similarly reasonable charge. That is, and that, we
trust, for many a year will be, the effect of Mr. Peabody's
benefaction. It gives the working man neither alms nor
dole, but a boon far better than either—the opportunity
of providing himself freely with some of the chief blessings
of life out of his own honest earnings.
The Post remarks upon the fact that her Majesty has
been pleased to confer a baronry on Sir John Lawrence—
the man, above all others, who saved India at the crisis
of the mutiny. No title more comprehensively signifi-
cant than " Lawrence of the Punjaub" was ever
inscribed on the roll of the British peerage, and the
act which ennobles an honest and laborious public
servant cannot but illustrate an ancient order of nobility.
The career of Sir John Lawrence is in many respects, a
remarkable one, and deserving of study. Forty years
ago he started in life in the civil service of the late East
India Company. Noted always for his energy and for
the zealous and conscientious discharge of his duties, he
gradually rose in his profession, until, in a happy hour
for India, he was elected to the post of Commis-
sioner of the Punjaub. Although he had previously
earned for himself a distinguished reputation, it was there
that he so distinctly and specially made his mark ; and the
moral ascendency which he obtained over the warlike
tribes he ruled was alike wonderful and fortu-
nate. It was mainly owing to this influence
that the Punjaub was not included in the great
mutiny, and that its weight was thrown into the scale
against the rebels. The turning-point of the move-
ment was the siege of Delhi, and it is but simple justice
to say that, but for the prompt despatch of native troops
from the Punjaub by Sir John Lawrence, we might, and
in all probability would, have failed to capture that all-
important position. It is impossible to overrate the value
of the part played by Sir John Lawrence in this critical
juncture in India ; and, although he has already been
eulogised in no niggardly manner, it is probable that
history will develope his share in the matter in a still
more prominent manner. When Lord Canning and
Lord Elgin had both succumbed to the jointi nfluence of
climate and overtaxed energies, the complete unanimity
with which the voice of the nation called for Sir John
Lawrence to govern India testified to his being the
fittest man for the trying position. Nor did the result
belie the expectations. What India required after the
annexations of Lord Dalhousie and the rough shock of
the mutiny was consolidation and repose, and Sir John
Lawrence was just the man to effect the one and insist
on the other. The required policy was congenial to his
views, and, therefore, it was carried out with complete-
ness and success. No new provinces were added.
Little wars were entered upon only in the last extremity
Schools were established and extended. The legal system
was revised. The finances were restored to order. The
public works were vigorously prosecuted. The confidence
and goodwill of the natives and neighbouring States were
cultivated successfully. This was the policy assiduously
but unostentatiously pursued by the late Governor-
General of India.

The Daily News, in an article on the Trades Union
Commision Report, gives its opinion as a whole in favour
of the report of the minority. Leaving abstract questions,
and regarding the case before us on its merits alone,
we cannot but approve of the recommendation
of the minority to treat workmen, not as a class,
apart, but as members of a society governed by a
uniform code of criminal law. If they claim the advan-
tage of security for their funds, it is but fair to require in
return that they shall register their unions, furnish copies
of their rules, and render annual statements of their ac-
counts. Publicity would thus be given to their pro-
ceedings, and public opinion would exercise an iuflu-
ence over :their conduct. If they infringed the law,
their punishment would be none the less effective because
it was not exceptional. Nor do we doubt that society at
large would be the gainer. There is no better cement for
the foundation of a free and a powerful State than the feel-
inc.- that in the eye of the law every citizen iswithout either
a superior to whom he must bend, or an inferior over whom
he may tyrannise.
Ere long, says the Telegraph, a Popish prince will be
I among us ; and it is characteristic of the insidious designs
of Romanism that, instead of sending an adult personage
into English society, where matured wisdom might cope
with his plots, he is to be slapped in amongst our future
statesmen, that he may sow the seeds of errorin their young
and innocent minds. For this important news we are
indebted to the Rev. C. C. Layard, incumbent of Sudbury,
in the parish of Harrow. Like the Irish orator of old, he
" smells a rat, he sees it brewing in the storm ; but, please
God, he will crush it in the bud." We had ourselves heard
that the young Duke of Genoa was to be educated
at Harrow ; but—careless Protestants as we are—
we did not see the full meaning of the fell news.
however, understands that this young
Mr. Layard,
Popish duke is to be " excused chapel "—which is hor-
rible, most horrible ! For other boys, " drawing foul
ensample from fair names," may also learn to neglect
that " chapel" around which now their earliest
devotions so affectionately cling. Mr. Layard
fears that this admission of the young prince,
and this unnatural toleration of his Popish scru-
ples, " may endanger the faith of our Protestant
youth and future legislators." Of course, if we would
have our future Parliaments Protestant, we must watch
the now pure sources of future members and peers ;
and a single Papist--z." a little pitted speck in garnered
fruit "—may destroy all. How can two or three
hundred Protestant boys young, trusting, and
innocent preserve their pure principles when one
Roman Catholic lad is there to throw a malign charm
around the creed of Rome ? Unless steps are taken in time
we shall find the good old school overrun with priests, and
the light of the Reformation quenched. As the Reformers
of 1832 howled out, so must we "stop the Duke." Our only
consolation is that, though a Popish Prince, the young Duke
is not the legitimate heir of our Pretender; fortunately
that right has passed into the branch now represented by
the ex-Duke of Modena, who, if Royal Family rights
were English public law, would be King of England to-
day. Still, Pretender or not, the young Prince is Popish,
and must be " put down." Could not Mr. Layard mar-
shal a good Protestant mob, and lynch the little boy ?
The Standard says the Government has been put in an
unpleasant position with respect to the Cunard and Inman
contracts, Having found them settled, having adopted
them, and having given the commercial world reason to
believe that the regularity of the Atlantic postage service
would not be jeopardised, they yielded to a demand from
the extreme Radicals, and consented to a committee of
inquiry into agreements already signed and sealed, and
which are to take effect in a few days for a certain num-
ber of years. That committee has sat and investigated
the matter. Its report, by the casting vote of the chair-
man—we know who the chairman was, and give him credit
for perfect sincerity and unmingled public spirit through-
out the whole proceeding—was unfavourable to the en-
gagements of the Government with both the Inman and
Cunard companies. It recommended that the contracts
should be disallowed, but that the contractors should
be offered the option of conducting the postal services
in question for a shorter period._ And what have the
Administration done ? Disregarded the committee
which they sanctioned. Surrendered to the con-
tractors whom the committee advised them_ to
repudiate. We are heartily glad it, and so
ll he all who have interest in . the correspond-
ewnice between this country and the United Stntes ; but
the result is no small humiliation to Ministers, nor
will it tend very greatly to increase the authority of par-
liamentary committees. The Standard replies to the
arguments as to the mail contract creating a monopoly.
....rgeuamreenemploying, it contends, the only adequate machi-
nery at our command. With regard to stipulations,
our contemporary goes on to sayspeed,
they would be fraught with danger, and indi-
cate an almost impious defiance of the terrible
natural powers which occasionally rule the deeps and
subdue and rebuke all the efforts of man. With the pro-
prietors of these great companies themselves we desire and
believe in the day when a penny ocean-postage may be
established. But, as they add, when the experiment is
made, it ought not to be made exclusively at their risk and
expense. 'They. undertake duties which it is not alleged
that they have ineffectually performed. The State refuses
to accept the responsibility for itself and run huge and
swift steamers, every week or fortnight, from land to land
across the Atlantic. We must congratulate the com-
mercial community therefore upon the fact that, in spite
of Treasury bad faith, our national correspondence.with
the countries of the west beyond the ocean is not to be
disastrously interrupted,. thrown back into the condition
of twenty years ago, or men up W foreign companiem,