The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 1169.

cupidity and malignity, but he, as the servant of
the pretended Government at Richmond, had the
right to burn and plunder, not only Federal pro-
perty, but that of neutrals, which in any way might
be used to strengthen and to comfort the Nortb. It
is ludicrous to observe the tone of this gentleman,
indeed some of his moralizing is worth noting. The
prize Parker Cooke on fire, lighting up the mountains
of St. Domingo then in sight, induces the following :
" Sixty years before, the negro had cut the throat of
the white man, ravished his wife and daughters, and
burned his dwelling in this island. The white man
in another country was now inciting the negro to
the perpetration of the same crime against another
white man whom he called brother. The white
man who was thus inciting the negro was the
Puritan of New England, whose burning ship was
lighting up the shores of St. Domingo !" There
may be something remarkable in the connection,
in the chain of evidence, and in the eventual
pun'sluent, to hare induced these reflections which
seem to have so highly gratified the legal subtlety of
a Semmes' mind. But we cannot see it; in truth, un-
less we had heard it from so great a legal authority
we would have applied to this the pithy Persian
word, signifying nothing, Bosh ! Nor could we have
found any other word more aptly to express our
meaning for what follows :—" That Puritan, only
a generation before, had entered into a solemn
league and covenant to restore to the Southern
man his fugitive slave if he should escape into his
territory. This was the way in which he was keep-
ing his plighted faith ! Does any one wonder that
the Alabama burned New England ships?" It is gra-
tifying to see that the interpretation of law laid down
by such a master, and the precedents thus established,
have not been lost to the world ; but were these reflec-
tions extracted from the " Alabama Confederate
States Admiralty Court" decision on the prize Parker
Cooke? Again he visited this island, and again he
moralized, for the scene of negro triumph and negro
cruelty seems to have had a strange power of fasci-
nation over the mind of the Alabama's captain.
"The old city of Sr. Domingo, how many associa-
tions does it not call up ! It was a large and
flourishing city a hundred years before that pesti-
ferous little craft the Mayflower brought out the
cockatrice's egg that hatched out the Puritan." His
descriptions of the Yankee captains captured are in
the same strain. " The captain of the IVales,
though a Northern man, had very few of the ear-
marks of the Yankee skipper about him. Ile was
devoid of the raw-boned angularity which charac-
terises most of them, and spoke very good English
through his mouth instead of his nose. Ilis pro-
nunciation and grammar were both good—quite an
unusual circumstance among his class." Yet quali-
fied judges, and British too, have lately pronounced
a strong opinion that English is spoken in America
in far greater purity than in Great Britain--the
exception being the people who speak good Eng-
lish taking the English in a mass, and the excep-
tion being those who speak bad English in America
taking the Americans in a mass. lie gives an
account of a consul he captured in the Union Jack,
on his way to Foochow. The Rev. Franklin Wright
was "au ex-New England parson, editor of a re-
ligious paper, in a New England village. Ile had
Puritan :written all over his lugubrious countenance,
and looked so solemn that one wondered how he
came to exchange the clergyman's garb for the
garb of Belial. But so it was. Franklin was going
out to India (sic) in quest of the dollars. We de-
prived him of his consular seal and commission,
though we did not molest his private papers, and of
sundry very pretty consular flags that had been
carefully prepared for him by Mr. Seward (fls), at
the State Department at Washington. I am pained
to see by that little bill of Mr. Seward (pre)
against the depredations of the Alabama, before
referred to, that the Rev. F. Wright put his dam-
ages down at $10,015. I had no idea that the New
England parson carried so much plunder about
with him." The legal acumen of Semmes does not
prevent his falling into many conspicuous little
blunders. In the instance we have given, Foo-
chow appears to be in India, and a few pages before
he makes the strength of the U.S. gunboat Halle

METROPOLITAN GOSSlP—Thursday.

--0--

The week has been rife with rumours of Ministerial
differences. These rumours are not unfounded. The old
story is being re-told. There is a feud between the Whigs
and the Radicals, and it is quite within the range of possi-
bility that the Liberal party may be broken up. Lord
Russell's proposals with regard to the Irish Church, which
were contained in his third letter, but which to ordinary
readers seemed entirely out of date, have proved by no
means so. The Whig party generally are for accepting
these proposals, or something like them, and it will be
remembered that they were long ago advocated by
Earl Grey. The Radical party are, of course, for
entire disendowment, and strongly adverse to
the levelling-up policy. This difference of opinion has
broken out in the Cabinet, and it is by no means certain
which party will prevail. It seems strange that there
should be any doubt on the matter, inasmuch as Mr.
Gladstone has pledged himself against any appropria-
tion of the Irish Church revenues to the Roman
Catholic Church ; inasmuch, too, as the country
deliberately pronounced against that policy at the
general election ; inasmuch, moreover, as when
Mr. Gladstone formed his Cabinet it was understood
that on many subjects there would be latitude of opinion
allowed, but on the subjects of the Irish Church agree-
ment was essential. It is stated to-day, in well-informed
circles, that the measure for dealing with the Irish Church
will not be brought in during the first fortnight of the
session, but that it will be laid on the table on a day
famous in the annals of legislation—the day on which
Lord Russell brought in his successful Reform Bill
of 1832, and (Liberals will say absit omen) the
day on which he brought forward his unsuc-
cessful Reform Bill of 1860—the first of March.
Of course, a measure of such importance, and one with
which Mr. Gladstone has so completely identified his
name, will be introduced by the Premier himself. This
announcement, which is made on what I believe to be
good authority, would seem to imply that the differences
spoken of above had been surmounted. That is not neces-
sarily the case. It does not follow that the bill
which Mr. Gladstone brings in will be the bill to
pass. It is by no means improbable that Lord Russell
will move au amendment when the measure reaches the
Upper House, embodying the proposals of his letter, and
that the Conservatives and Whigs will agree to support it.
In that case it is intimated Mr. Gladstone might be found
submitting to the inevitable. There is nothing in his
past history which seems to warrant such a supposition.
At present the situation is not a little critical.
The report of Lord Clarendon's illness, started in the
Echo, was quite unfounded. Not only has the Foreign
Secretary not been unable to attend to the business of his
department, but he has been peculiarly active in conduct-
ing it during the last two or three weeks. I may state
that he has been the foremost in counselling the Greek
Government to accept the protocol of the Paris Conference.
It was only with the greatest difficulty that this concession
could. be obtained, and to our Foreign Minister Europe
owes it that she is not witnessing now the beginning of a
great war. It would be too much to say that the
danger of war has been altogether surmounted. There
are many symptoms, especially the large importation of
French arms into Civita Vecchia, which seems to show
that France, at all events, considers the conflict only
postponed. But Lord Clarendon will say with Canning,
who, when some member declared that war must come
sooner or later, replied, " Then, sir, let it be later."
All doubt respecting the leadership of the Conservative
party in the Upper House is now apparently set at rest
by the seemingly official announcement that the duty will
be entrusted to Lord Cairns. This is a position of which
he may well feel proud. Fifteen years ago he was only
Mr. Cairns, member for Belfast, a barrister in good
practice, though not a Q.C., and not known as a debater.
In 1856 he took silk; in 1858 he became Solicitor-General;
in 1866 Attorney-General ; in 1867 Lord Justice ; in 1868
Lord Chancellor ; and now, in 1869, this undistinguished
barrister of fifteen years ago is put over the heads of mar-
quises and dukes, takes precedence of the noblest and
oldest blood in the kingdom, and, risen from the people,
leads the most aristocratic assembly in the world. This
speaks much, not only for his abilities, but for the paucity
of ability among the great ruling families. No single
incident of recent times marks so strongly the
decaying power of the peerage as the fact that the great
Conservative party is led by a gentleman of the Press in
the Lower House and by a gentleman of the long robe in
the Upper.
Among the unfounded rumours of the present week is
the report that the Government did not intend to carry
out the project of purchasing the telegraphs. There has, I
am assured, been no hesitation about the purchase, but
there has been some consideration as to whether the terms
mentioned last year were not too high. The bill passed
last year simply enabled Government to purchase on
terms not exceeding twenty years' profits ; but this clearly
leaves the Government open to purchase for eighteen years'
profits, if it can. I believe that at the present time certain
Government officials are now in various offices of the
telegraph companies, learning the way to work the wires,
so that the Government may not be left stranded when the
transfer is made.
The death of Mr. Charles Bell, the member for the
City, was announced liefore the event by one of the
London evening papers, and that announcement was tele-
graphed to all the country papers. About noon on
Tuesday a message was sent from a well-known adver-
tising and newspaper agency in the City to all the London
evening journals to the effect that Mr. Bell was dead and
that Baron Rothschild would come forward to take his
seat. At two o'clock, just as they were going to press,
a second message was received requesting that the first
might not he used, and that request was com-
plied with by all the editors except that of the Echo.
The morning journals of the next day stated that though
hopelessly ill, the hon. member was still living. As a matter
of fact, he died at Richmond during the night. This
makes the fourth death which has taken place since the
elections, both sides having suffered equally—Wareham
and Renfrewshire by the death of Mr. Calcraft and Capt.
Speirs, South Derbyshire and London by the death of Sir
Thos. Greeley and Mr. Bell. The latter two had not been in
Parliament before. The Liberals lost a seat at Wareham
by the death of Mr. Calcraft, but will gain a far more
important seat in London by the death of Mr.
Bell. He was the minority member, and although
the Conservatives have met to discuss If they should con-
test the constituency, no one believes that they would have
the smallest chance in a single-handed contest ; and as
nothing is said in to-day's papers with respect to their in-
tentions, it may be assumed that they will not attempt to
fight. Mr. Bell was member of a firm which had three
partners in the House of Commons. He is to be succeeded
by a commercial magnate who has an equal number of
relatives in the same assembly. Baron Rothschild has
been selected because it is supposed that the seat is
due to him. There is no great amount of enthusiasm
in his behalf, for be is no speaker, and a rare attendant at
the debates, or even in the division lobby. A certain
section, consisting chiefly of the London tradesmen,
would have preferred Sir Benjamin Phillips, who as Lord
Mayor of London won their hearts. But the men on
'Change think that be would not have been "big"
enough, and prefer an inefficient Rothschild to an efficient
Phillips.

ras, he Lad just sunk, officers and crew all told, to
be 108 ; yet, almost immediately after, he says he
landed lao of the men of the Hatteras at Kings.
stown, Jamaica. But we must hurry on, fur, as it
is, we have dwelt s) long on these details that we
cannot give an idea of Semmes' account of the
illabanza without a Third Notice. Next to the
action which closed the career of the Confederate
cruiser, the incident which excites most interest is
the combat between her and the gunboat Hatteras.
After leaving Martinique, and coaling on the road,
Semmes ran into the Gulf of Mexico to strike a
blow at Banks' expedition, then organizing to in-
vade Texas. That. General he describes as " a
prominent Massachusetts politician, who had no
sort of military talent, having risen to the surface
among other scum, amid the bubbling and boiling
of the Yankee cauldron. Banks had mounted a
stud-horse on Boston-common on militia review
days before the war, and had himself lithographed
stui-horse, cocked hat, feathers and all ; and these
were credentials not to be despised." The Confe-
derate hoped to effect a night surprise, setting fire
to the large fleet of transports, and getting off un-
harmed. It was on his way to Galveston, while keep-
ing a look out as an interlude for the California trea-
sure ship, that he captured the Ariel, his elephant, as
he truly calls her, not knowing what to do with the
ponderous brute. When he sighted his port he
found five Federal war ships shelling it, which was
the first intimation he had that Magruder had re-
captured it, and that Banks had therefore changed
the direction of the invasion. When the Federal
fleet observed him, one of the steamers immediately
got under way, and it was then he conceived the
notion of drawing her from her consorts under the
supposition that the Alabama was a merchantman,
when he might capture her if he had reason to be-
lieve he was superior in force, or run if the strength
lay on the Federal side. The Hatteras followed
him for 20 miles, when night fell; and suddenly the
Alabama, with her steam up and all cleared for ac-
tion, turned. The Hatteras ran close up and hailed,
and the answer was " Her Britannic Majesty's ship
Vixen." The Hatteras said she would send a boat
on board, which was immediately dropped, and it was
not till then the announcement was made that the
strange vessel was the Alabama which reached the
United States gunboat almost simultaneously with
a broadside. The action lasted only thirteen minutes,
and in a few more the Hatteras sank. She was an old
tub, totally unfitted to cope with a new vessel of war,
like the Alabama, even had her battery been equal.
Her engines were not protected beneath the water
line, like those of the vessel built by Laird, and
the eight-inch shells crashed through them, quickly
disabling the Hatteras, and rendering her unma-
tnoagteha
ob l e
last,. However
bCa ar
epl tya i nt
mße u
to
ok e g
e t foughtout w
tehr
his crew, before she went down. The weight of the
metal and the quality of the armament were much
superior in the Alabama, though there was little
ervels.
difference theThisw as tonnage
Semmes'
or
greatin t
feat
e estrength ofed
thee
not desire to detract from its merit ; for though the
result could not be doubtful where two such vessels
were handled by brave seamen, yet neither knew
against what odds he might be matched, and both
gallantly took their chance. Nor can a sailor, as we
shall hereafter have occasion to say of Semmes him-
self when it comes to his turn to sink, do more than
fight his ship till she goes down under him. We
may, however, just now allude to the strange retri-
bution which overtook this man. He had the pain
of seeing his own vessel destroyed by an adver-
sary fairly matched agaist. himself, her career
ending in a way similar ton that which, through his
agency, had overtaken the Hatteras, while even-
tually the very torch he had so ruthlessly used in
burning merchantmen he was himself compelled to
apply to the last squadron of his Government and
the last ships he ever commanded.

Mr. Glyn and Mr. Hart Dyke will have plenty to do on
the first night of the session. There will be no fewer
than nine writs to move for ; four of these—Bradford,
Drogheda., Wexford, and Radnor —were filled by Liberals ;
five—Bewdley, Norwich, Dublin, Westbury, and London
—by Conservatives. Probably we shall hear something
also about Nottingham, where Colonel Wright some
time ago announced his retirement. It is not the
fault of the Conservative party that other seats have not
fallen vacant. Ten Liberals have been unsuccessfully
petitioned against. Clearly, Mr.Spofforth has found himself
all at sea with this new-fangled petition apparatus which
his clever chief devised. Like household suffrage, it has
hurt its inventor rather badly.
The birth of a "Duke of Orleans " has caused no
little excitement in Anglo-French circles. It is
another guarantee for the continuance of the Bourbon
line, for the supply of claimants to the French throne
whenever it becomes vacant. Among our own upper
circles the event has caused great satisfaction. The
English Royal Family and English statesmen may recognise
the ruling French dynasty, but the English noblesse do not.
A very well-known English Parisian who has been over
here for a few days told me that our aristocracy almost
invariably keep away from the Tuileries when in Paris.
The men who used to be friends with Napoleon when he
was an exile will not pay court to him now that he is an
emperor. They are rejoiced at the "accident" which has
placed in the English Embassy an unmarried ambassador,
and thereby interposed a serious obstacle to the pre-
sentation of English ladies at the French Court.
The Emperor, I am assured, feels this cold-
ness not a little, the more so as he knows that
English nobles would crowd to Paris if " Henri Cing "
were to be master of the Tuileries. As it is, the number
of English residents in the French capital has long been
steadily diminishing.
A new protest of Ritualists against the St. Alban's
judgment has been published. It is subscribed by very
few persons of importance, and the fifty dissentients at
the great meeting in the Freemasons' Tavern appear to
have diminished just one-half. Even the other moiety do
not say they will disobey the judgment ; they simply pro-
test against it. At the church of one of the signitaries, St.
Michael's, Shoreditch, it is said that the Sarum
use will be introduced after Easter. If this be
true, Mr. Nihi!l would do well to read the
preface to the Prayer-book " Concerning the Service
of the Church," where it it said, "And whereas lit,:ret4)"

THE LICENSING SYSTEM.—The Birmingham
borough magistrates, at a sitting on Tuesday morning,
adopted an important memorial, praying the Government
to introduce a bill speedily into the House of Commons,
taking away from the Excise the function of Hcencing
beer-houses, and vesting the power in the magistratei of
the boroughs and counties.
DosvILLE and Co., Belfast, •are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re-
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exporta
tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Danville and Co.,
Belfast; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, London W.Q.—[Ad
Tertitntneal

• _.....- fore there there hath-been great diversity in saying and singing haVe been MOM. than doubled Within the last few
in churches within .this realm, some following Salisbury years. A third' parish, adjoining these two and in a
use, some Hereford use, and some the use of Bangor, some still worse plight than either, has to pay both the
of York, some of Lincoln: now from henceforth all the extra expenses of extensive turnpike roads and the
whole realm shall have but one use." One of the clergy increased rates of a town union ; while a fourth
who refused at first to comply with the judgment,ent, the parish, near at hand, happily for itself, hasno dusty o
Rev. B. T. Weit, of St. Mary Magdalene, Paddington,
not write .r
41? us in urbe ads within its'
a bors
iders,t and does
s poor-rate
has, in consequence of a friendly conference with his
motto." Mr. Lippincott goes on to shew what a
new diocesan (whose command he was willing to needless multiplication there is of collectors. Ea II
obey, though unwilling to obey the State), followed tithing has its property-tax collector, whose duty it
the example of the majority, and at the eight is to receive the property-tax returns for his par-
o'clock celebration yesterday (Ash Wednesday) the altar titular district—a thing impracticable in many
candles were for the first time unlighted. The new instances, seeing that portions of several tithings are
bishop seems anxious to shew as much consideration as he frequently included in a single farm, which is let at
can for the Ritualists. In his old diocese they were railone rent. In every petty tithing two collectors are
nantcs in gurgite waste; in his new, he finds them so appointed to gather the land and assessed taxes. The
numerous that they cannot be put dow fact is, Parliament has invaded the old system ofn. His first public
purely
i local taxation but has not made a complete
act will be performed to-morrow, when he will consecrate conquest of it. Consequently, we are now standing
a church near the Commercial-road.
between the old and the new systems, without the
No little scandal has been caused in metropolitan advantages of either. Mr. Lippincott acids : "As
Dissenting circles during t!:e last few days by the dis- remedial measures for this state
of things, let county
appearance of a Nonconformist preacher from the north of be substituted for parochial and union rating—a
London. The person in question was a pupil of Mr. corollary to which, by the way, would naturally be
Spurgeon, had a very comfortable livelihood of £7OO a abolition of the law of settlement; and, that the
year from his chapel, and was blessed with a wife and four rates may be yet more equally distributed, let them
be raised on the principle adopted in the assessment to
children. But these various- good things did not content
him : be must needs run off
Property tax : let paid Government officers be ap-
to make the matter worse, the wronged husband is his own with another man's wife, and,
pointed to collect over enlarged districts the oert- ,
land, and assessed taxes;in place of the prpresent'paroy---
brother. chial and tithing collectors ; and in order that the
Of literary news I have a little to-day. Mr. Josiah occupiers of land may be duly represented in the
Gilbert, the editor of Murray's Guide to the Tyrol, and administration of the county finances, let a certain
the joint author with Mr. Churchill of the book on the number of their body be elected to take their place
Dolomite Mountains, is engaged in writing a Life of Titian, at county financial boards. These changes, what-
with criticisms on his works. The book will be beautifully ever others may follow, would seem to be but a
illustrated, and published by Longmans. Messrs. Parker needful supplement to what has already been done."
are eked to publish a concordance to Keble, by two BURDENS ON LAND.
ladies, which will be a remarkable" work, inasmuch Professor Thorold Rogers, in writing to the
Morning Ste, respecting the burdens on land,
someves„ it
knowledge isa g eod s i gnat tthhaet thefttet
efarmersv
ewti soh
as one of the editresses is blind, but has
nevertheless -(r1: - l ,I. , - hat account—a hob:l7er
the
most perfect knowledge of Keble's poetry, having learnt it incidence of local taxation. The interest of the
by heart. Messrs. Parker have issued Sir John Coleridge's farmer is the same as that of any other manufacturer
Life of Keble, whose intended appearance I mentioned in or producer. If a tax is levied on his profits
a former letter. The "Hymns for the Sick and Suffer- while the landlord's estate is free, the farmer is just
ing," which have bad a considerable sale, are by Miss as much wronged and should be just as much
Priscilla Maurice, sister of Professor Maurice and of Mrs, aggrieved as a trader or a professional man would be.
Hare, widow of Archdeacon Hare. The editor of Mr. The landowner is singularly favoured in this country.
Crabbe Robinson's diary is Dr. Sadler, a Unitarian In nearly every other a land-tax forms a notable
b
minister, of Hampstead. Mr. Robinson himself was branch of the revenue. In France the receipts on
this head amount to a tenth of the whole income,
a Unitarian. Mr. Edmund Yates has since his bankruptcy
in Belgium to an eighth in Austria to a third In
resigned the editorship of Tinsleys' Magazine. This gentle- this country the land tax 'is. ludicrously small, and if.s
man found his first attempt at playwriting by no means more than compensated by the shilling duty on corn.
satisfactory, having, as he stated in court, cleared only The landowner on succeeding to his estate is liable to
about £l5 by his " Tame Cats," a fact which will not no probate duty, and pays a succession duty much
greatly vex the soul of Mr. Swinburne. Mr. Stigand, the lighter than that exacted from the inheritance of
author of the noticeable paper in Belgravia on " Byron," personal property. He is indirectly liable to certain
is a contributor to the current number of the Edinburgh local rates, but if poor rates were abolished
Review, having- believe, written the article on "Spain wages would rise, and the highway tolls preserve the 1
under Charles 11." Everybody is talking about Professor roads, by which the landowner chiefly benefits. Pro-
Beesly's article in the Fortnightly, which is not only fessor Rogers avers that he has never been able to
fdiostcocl'erititnyt prulifar. burdenst. on landd, while he has
unusually brilliant, but has a special interest in it,
Joaifitsearn
depnroix;iiiltectegs con-
the under the characters of two French statesmen of feareddn a.onoslaondonsnvnejrrse•
the. last century, he has dealt with two most eminent country squires as the advocates of a selfish social
x eamnpd.
English statesmen of our own day. I should acid that faction, he expresses a hope that we shall soon see a
Mr. Beesly is not only a Radical of the extremest kind, thorough change in this branch of our legislation.
but a Comtist, and has therefore no sympathy, nor
EMIGRATION.
indeed patience, with a mind like Mr. Gladstone's , which A conference was held at the 'Mansion House on
is so powerfully influenced by religious motives. The Wednesday on the subject of emigration, • with espo-
article in the Quarterly on Ritualism is attributed to Canon cial reference to the chronic distress at the East-end
Robertson, of Canterbury, the author of "Sketches of of London, and the condition of the unemployed
Church History during the First Six Centuries." Captain workmen at Woolwich. The Lord Mayor presided,
Byng Hall, who was said to be the editor of The Queen's. and in opening the proceedings said that
Messenger, the new weekly spoken of in a former letter, all the palliatives which had been made to
has publicly denied it. It was a connection of which he deal with pauperism at the East-end of London had
could scarcely feel proud. failed, and some large scheme of emigration must
Artists are now deciding upon the pictures which they be adopted. He thought that efforts should be madeonly to stem pauperism but to put a stop to it.
will send to the Royal Academy, M not
r. Frith has several in He had met with an instance of the costliness of the
hand, among then a modern subject called "Hopes and ordinary modes of relief, for one famil bad cost the
Fears," a scene from "Don Quixote,"and another studyot Jewish
guardians no less than £400.y The Lord
Caroline times (though very different from his famous Mayor concluded by saying that motives of
picture of 1867), Nell Gwynne selling oranges. Both economy should induce people to aid in schemes
Mr. and Mrs. Ward will exhibit. The first win of emigration rather than let the unemployed
have the Introduction at Court of Grinling Gibbons, continue burdensome to the parishes which they
inhabited. Two resolutions r, ere passed at the
the wonderful woodcarver whom Sir Christopher
Wren brought from the Netherlands, in order to do the emeeting,te pledging the
Igsenitlesrf a present
niteoti the
stall work at St. Paul's. Mr, Ward's other picture will oir) relieving ersitgrreassionanw;
, d the other decLiug that
be "Luther
.First Studying the Bible." Mrs. Ward's a subscription should be entered into with a view of
subject is "An Incident in the Life of the First Pre- extending the operations of the East-end limigra-
tender." Mr. Pettie has selected a very notable subject, tion and Relief Fund. Mr. Torrens, M.P., said
"The Fall of woasey.e Mr. Calderon has two pictures-- it would be wise to send the empty mouths to the
1 one has for title the first line of Marlowe's well-known Wasted food in Australia. A discussion took place
song, " Come live with me and be my love," and represents as to the merits of pauper emigration, and some
two figures in fifteenth - century costume. The other
becauseof gentleman observed that if failure occurred it would
poor-law administra-
the error in the
represents an incident in French history—the widow of the ,be •
on, by which all men were ticketed as paupers on
Duke of Guise persuading Clement to murder Henrylll. ti
r hinthe 1 which • 1
eac g and to they =get be sent.
Mr. Armitage has a scriptural subject, and a picture of
Hero and Leander. Mr. Leslie has two pictures—one a SALDANLIA DAY AND 3IALINIESBURG.
A 1" Saldanier " writes to the editor of the Tunes
single female figure reclining in an arbour; the other
founded on the old song, " It's best to be off with the old odieicltarices
tdiiif.litcutiliteirees 'of dealing withiil crinpals, and
love before you're on with the new "—a girl standing with meat while we have an army
inu
of 100,000 culprits, ir oavi el,
and
her recreant lover's portrait in her drooping hand, while 2,000 of the most desperate criminals are let loose in
her mother is reading the letter in which the rupture of London every twelve months. The overcrowded
the tie is announced. Mr. Marks has a large picture, state of the poor in London has long been a subject
" The Minstrel's Gallery," a major-domo of the Middle of the greatest anxiety, and to relieve this pressure
Ages sheaving a number of minstrels to the gallery whence on society must be the object of earnest
they are to enliven a festival which is being carried on attention. He then describes the district of
below. Mr. Mason, whose " Evening Hymn "was the gem of " Malmesburg," which lies on the seaboard of
last year's Academy, and won for him the large number of South Africa, and points out the adv=antages that
forty votes at the late ballot for two associates, has two may. emigration accrue fro
(71 f thepau
pterrasn transmission i z 112
place.o f
land
pictures, one a rustic party taking' refuge under a tree is within twenty days' steaming from the shores of
during a hail-storm, arid the other an evening on a England, want is unheard of there, and yet the place
moor, with the bright light of the sunset reflected is comparatively unknown. The members of the
on a stream. Mr. Wattshasonhand severalpictures, among Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, and Crime
which are " Diana and Edymion ;" a single figure, larger may be assured that all emigrants to Saldanha Bay
than life, of Hyperion sitting on the clouds just ere the will be well satisfied.
~
sun breaks forth upon . the night ;4 "Una and the Red
Cross Knight," the first riding on her lowly ass, and the
knight on his war steed ; also, a portrait of a lady. Mr.
Watts will probably send these, and perhaps more, to the
Royal Academy Exhibition,

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

USURY.

Money-lenders seem to have resolved themselves
into one of the evils of the day. Seeing the result
of our system of trading, as shewn forth in the panic
of 1866, and remembering the temptation to which
young men with expectations are exposed, one is
puzzled to know which is the worst, the present prac-
tices or the old usury laws. Proposals come from all
quarters for the suppression of extortion. It is for-
gotten, however, that already, as far as the law is
concerned, this is done. An application to Chancery
would, in the case of over 5 per cent, being charged,
be immediately followed by relief. The evil is, that
men would rather pay than be exposed. For them
there is no law, and so the extortioner prospers.
THE METROPOLITAN CHARITIES.
-Mi. Hicks has done good service to the public and
to the suffering poor by endeavouring to throw
some light on the complicated machinery of our
London charities.. He has prepared a synopsis of the
reports of our principal metropolitan charities,
which must have cost him an immense
amount of time and labour. Mr. Hicks has given us
a list of the names, addresses, and objects of no less
than 363 charities, institutions, and asylums, ranging
from those which provide for the care of crippled
infants to the associations which provide for
the widows of professional men, or assist the
task of self-education by the loan of diagrams
and maps. Many of the charities here referred
to are probably unknown by name beyond
their own immediate circle, but each has its special
object of usefulness. The great matter of regret, as
Mr. Hicks observes, is the want of all organisation,
and consequent loss of power. Tho preVailing
absence of uniformity, as well as the defective
manner in which some of the balance-
sheets are prepared, prevents the information
contained in the several reports from possessing
their full value. -Under a different system they
might, as Mr. Hicks points out, become valuable
centres for information from various points of view.
Mr. Hicks does not profess to give a complete repre-
sentation of the metropolitan charities, but his synopsis
is, no doubt, sufficiently accurate for any ordinary
inquirer. He divides it into seven classes, under the
heads of infancy, childhood, manhood, old age,
professional, afflicted, and general assistance ; giving,
in all cases where a report has been furnished, a
summary of their receipts and their expenses. The
sum total of all the balance-sheets thus dealt with
presents the immense aggregate of 22,040,897, and
yet the last tables of pauperism show us that in the
last week of January the total pauperism of the
metropolis was 154,067. Mr. Hicks points out that
the names of some of our charities, such as those for
the Homeless and Destitute, speak for themselves of
the inefficiency of the poor law. At present, he says,
the public, instead of supplementing the relief of the
poor law, is, and has been for years past, doing the
work of the poor law itself. The synopsis before us,
occupying as it does two-and-a-half pages of the
Times, seems to confirm the assertion.

" IIEARTLESS PARASITES."
People who take houses for any length of time are
always anxious to know if they are " clean." Nothing
can be more trying than to be assailed in the first
night after the bustle of removal by those nameless
minute insects which are the abomination of every
clean housewife. A Mr. Trevenan, of Wareham,
Dorsetshiro, unaccustomed to the inconveniences of
" half the houses in London," found it trying indeed.
Ho removed from Wareham to the metropolis, and
took a house at Brixton. But it was absolutely
uninhabitable. He could not rest by clay or sleep by
night; so he gave up the house in despair. He was
put to great expense in removing, and thought the
owner of the house ought to pay him for sending him
into an uninhabitable house. But the ownerobjected.
He did not put the parasites there. Mr. Trevenan
was, however, determined to get the money if he
could, and brought an action in the Common Pleas
to compel his landlord to "hand over." The•action
was tried on Wednesday. The jury were sympa-
thetic with the plaintiff, and would have given
damages to any amount. But the judge thought the
case had better be "settled," not being at all sure
that any damages were due. The lawyers, therefore,
made it up betweend
themselves. Hence orth it must
be_411.49 t h kW' Itr9. '