The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TB URSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 4, 1E69.

the evils now complained of would increase rather
than diminish, but no one at all qualified to judge of
the matter will deny that the unequal pressure of the
poor-rates as the system stands at present is a
grievance that calls for the attention of Parliament,
and the new House of Commons must not shirk its
duty in this respect.

The. extraordinary and exceptional state of the
weather has long been the subject of remark. An
English winter without frost is an astonishing and
almost unprecedented occurrence. We have of late
years seemed to revive the experience of the las
generation, whose members tell us that

Five and twenty years ago,
Winter was a time of snow.

1807 at all events gave us some insight into the plea-
sure of a season in which JACK FROST reigned su-
preme, and laid his embargo on gas pipes and water
pipes unmercifully. La,t m inter, it is true, we had
but a week or two's frost, though that was rendered
intolerable, even to frost lovers, by the alternation of
sleet, snow, rain, mud, and frost on the top of all•
The summer which succeeded was one of almost un-
paralleled heat in this cur temperate climate, and it
set our meteorologists and scientific philosophers
wondering. Wise men foretold an early and a hard
winter. Omens and portents were not wanting.
The berries were plentiful on the hedges, wild birds
from the north had made their way hither, and other
signs were ready to point the disagreeable moral.
And yet here we are in the early days of February,
with Valentine's-Day almost in sight, and JACK FROST
is as yet a stranger. True, he has peeped at us, but
we have scarcely recognised him, and no sooner pre-
pared for his mischievous tricks than off he vanishes in
the warm sunshine or the soft west wind. Various ex-
planations are given for this remarkable phenomena.
Some find their origin in the unusual prevalence of
earthquakes and volcanic action, disturbing the sur-
face of the globe, some again anticipate a gradual
change of climate ; some believe the warmth is due
to an exceptional influence on the gulf stream ;
while others are inclined to think the central fires of
the earth are penetrating its outer crust—a pleasant

suggestion !
However this may be, it is certain that we are
suffering from the violence of most exception a
storms, and while the scientific record tells us that
for eighteeen days of the past January, the tem-
perature has been higher than during the same in-
terval for fifty years—we are likely, we fear, to have
to add that it has also been the most disastrous
January for the same period. The news from all
parts of the coast are full of painful histories; of ships
lost, crews suffering terrible privations, fishermen
perishing, houses inundated, farms submerged, and
railway lines destroyed. From the west coast, more
especially the tidings are startling. The Devon and
Cornwall Railway and the Cambrian Railway have
both suffered severely, while in Scotland, Ireland,
and Wales there have been many and fatal accidents.
At Dublin ou Sunday the tide rose higher than it has
been known to do since 1839 ; while in the principal
streets of Cork the water was from three to four
feet deep. At Youghal the sea broke over part
of the railway line, destroying the station. The
inundations at Limerick have been of a serious
nature, and at Tramore part of the road has been
washed away. From Scotland numerous disasters are
reported, while in the Mersey and in the Isle of Man
the scenes of destruction have been extraordinary. IL
is gratifying to find our lifeboat institution, as usual,
doing good service, and providing the means of
saving many lives, and we hope the extraordinary
catastrophes which are everywhere reported will
stimulate the public liberality to fresh exertions in
its favour.

THE age of compromise seems to have passed
away. Whatever may be the merits of the remedies
devised for national grievances, it is impossible to
deny them the one quality of being radical.
Instead of the miserable modifications of detail
by which reform has been stifled during the
last generation, we now appear to be rather
in danger of the other extreme. Of this kind
is the proposed remedy for the defect of poor-law
administration. After many abortive attempts to
reduce the inequalities of rating and at the same time
to secure a more advantageous expenditure of the
money, we are now confronted by a scheme
for a total reconstruction of the system, for a
complete change in the mode of raising and expend-
ing the sum required to keep down starvation. It
is proposed to substitute general instead of local
taxation for the poor ; the rates levied on real
property in isolated parishes are to give way to an in-
come tax equally distributed throughout the country
and levied upon all species of property. There can
be no doubt that this formidable project is
likely to receive very powerful support. It will
unite in its favour the two most widely separated
sections of the community. It is warmly advocated
by the agriculturists because it will reduce the
burdens on. landed property, which in respect of
poor rates are both excessive and unjust. The mer-
chant pays a rate assessed upon the value of
his premises, the professional man upon the rent of
his house; but the general income of each ,be it ever
so large, is left untouched. The farmer, on the other
hand, derives his whole income from real property,
and the poor rate is assessed upon the whole of his
holding. In the one case the rate is paid upon well-
nigh the whole capital ; in the other upon a
very small fraction of it. In another direction the
allotment of the burden is similarly unequal. As
each parish is assessed separately and according
to its needs, so in the poorer districts, where the
ability to pay is least, the amount demanded is
greatest; in the richer districts, the reverse. The
complaint is old ; but, unfortunately, so is the
grievance, and it remains as yet untouched.
In the country there is much danger
—not for the first time—that the rating may
soon rise to the level of the rent ; in the towns the
poor law is to some extent a machine for the manu-
facture of paupers. The burden is becoming so
intolerable that a speedy reform is necessary, both in
the interests of justice and from the refusal of the
afflicted classes to bear it any longer.
The proposed national poor tax is at least a
practical attempt at a change which cannot long be
postponed. It would establish both the species of
equality which are needed; it would assess all kinds
of property for the discharge of an obligation which
falls upon all classes; and it would put an end to a
system by which the poor have to bear part
of the duty of the rich. Though the movement
in favour of this change is supported mainly by
those who reap the first kind of benefit, yet it would
not the less profit those who suffer from the ine-
quality of the rate in towns. In London especially
the shopkeeper approaches in one respect to the
condition of the farmer. His rent forms a
very large proportion of his yearly expenses. The
poor rate is assessed as in the case of the
farmer upon this excessive rent, and yet these shop-
keepers and others of the lower middle class and the
poor, who are heavily rated, have to support an
amount of poverty from which richer parishes are
comparatively free. The proposal to levy the rate
upon all kinds of property, to make it,
in fact, an income tax, is as just as the
proposal to abolish the present local system. The
duty of supporting the poor might well be levied
upon real estate at a time when there was little
personal property in the country, but the conditions
of national wealth have wholly changed, whilst
the law remains. Beyond immunity for very
small incomes, the duty is one which properly
falls upon all alike. The one great objection—and
the Central Chamber of Agriculture, which discussed
this question on Tuesday, did not efficiently deal

with it—is the difficulty of administration. Then
would be little difficulty of collecting the tax
the question is, how should it be spent 1

The central authority for the relief of the
poor could not act so efficaciously as the local boards ;
the task requires such minute observation that it
ought to be distributed as much as possible. But, on
the other hand, if the administration were left
to the guardians, their management would be very
different from what it is now. Now they
have both the ratepayers and the poor to consider,
they must find money as well as relieve necessity;
under the new system the latter task only would
fall to them. There is too much reason to fear that
great extravagance would ensue which it would be
extremely difficult to check. If this part of the
problem can be satisfactorily solved, the reform will
have almost every argument in its favour ; if not,
its practicability has yet to he proved.

-1, 14
TOl/14, 0111-1 b T.

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Feb. 2.
The Queen, attended by the Dowager Duchess
of Athole, drove out yesterday afternoon.

Prince Arthur left Osborne to-day for Woo:

with.

The Duke and Duchess Frederick of Schleswig-
Holstein arrived at Oeborne yesterday on a visit to
her Majesty.

LATEST INTELL WINCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGIA.3IS.)

FRANCE.

PArds, Feb. 4.
The Princess Bacciochi, a relative of the Em,
reror, died yesterday.
BOURSE, Feb. 3.—Three o'clock.—The marker
closed as follows :

41 per Cent.
End of month —
3 per Cent
End of month 7O 80
Credit Mobilier
End of month 2O
Credit Foncier 1560
End of month —

Bank Shares 3025
ItaF.an Loan
End of month —
Mexican Loan
Do. Bonds
Spanish Threes
Homo Debt —
Deferred ......

Cash
900

Orleans

N orthern .

3185

Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern.... 570
Western
Eastern
Sardinian

Austrian 6571
2
Lombard 4871
North of Spain
Saragossa
4
Roman 4i 1

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, WEDNESDAY, February 3.
' The prophets of war have succeeded in bringing one
about after all, though in a direction very different from
that expected. A little war has broken out in Algeria.
The tribes or tribe which is now giving some little occu-
pation to the enormous French force mustered in the
colony is said to have come to an understanding with
Morocco, which is in constant dread of being swallowed
up by French aggression. The Arabs have pre-
maturely got in motion, owing to the conviction
that a great struggle between France and Prussia
was inevitable. France's necessity would be the
Arab's opportunity. The panic of the summer has pro-
duced something. The offending tribe, which, as you
havd no doubt heard, has already been defeated, is the
Oulad-Sidi-Cheik, the same which invaded Algeria in
1864, and managed to stir up an insurrection of some
importance. The question is, what are the chances of a
repetition of the events of 1864 ? The state of affairs in
Algeria at present is such as to leave no doubt whatever
on the subject. Algeria is divided into two parts—the
North and the South. The North is named the Tell, and
includes all the arable land whilst the South is wholly
pasture or desert. In Tell the population is agricultural,
and fixed ;in the South it is nomadic and pastoral. All
the grain consumed in the South is grown in the North,

which receives in exchange wool, dates, and other produce

of the kind. It is clear, then, that Tell is master of the
situation ; the South is dependent on the North
for its existence. Now, the French occupy the South to
the distance of some 300 miles from the coast ; there is the
base of its power, which is secured by the occupation of
the central line of the country, including many strategic
points, such as Tlemcar. Far beyond this centre line is a
chain of military posts, closing the entrance to the North.
Lastly, beyond the North is a series of advanced posts in
the South itself, for the purpose of keeping in subjection
and watching the pastoral tribes. Hence these three
lines evidently secure the North and extend French
domination into the South. What passes in the
latter district is comparatively of little importance pro-
vided the Tell remains tranquil. The Oulad-Sidi-Chaik
may readily advance past the third line of advanced posts
to the frontiers of Tell, but it is not likely that they will
effect an entrance into that separate district. In 1864
they brought about an insurrection in the North, but this
was very largely owing to the massacre of Colonel Beau-
pretre's troops, which had an immense effect upon the
natives. But now the great pastoral tribe is worn out
by several years of famine and difficulty, and it is not pro-
bable, on the other hand, that the tribes of Tell have any
energy after recent sufferings. It is likely that the pas-
toral tribes will never enter the North, and very probable
that this single defeat may put an end to the rising.
Is there to be an active revival of the jealousy between
France and Prussia? It would seem so. Count
Bismarck made some very disagreeable allusions
to various potentates in his speech on the sequestration of
the private property belonging to the ex-Elector of Hesse
and the ex-King of Hanover ; but most unpleasant of all was
his charge against the French Emperor of fostering the
Hanoverian Legion on his territory for the invasion of
Prussia. The accusation was marked by much more au-.
dacity than wisdom. The Prussian Chancellor may
fool cmfi ent in his position ; but his ene-
mies are very numerous, and his open provocation
may have a disastrous result some day. The official
journals are very indignant at this speech. Their language
is as little select as that of Count Bismarck. That stormy
petrel, the Cross Gazette, has just appeared with a very
inopportune article on the independence of Belgium,
remarking that all the Great Powers ought to guarantee
the future of that country, and adding that Germany
must undertake her defence should she be threatened
from any quarter. Where is the necessity for opening a
question of this kind ? The King of Belgium is still young;
may have a son; and if not there is his Lrother.
There is not the slightest reason for creating a disturbance
about Belgium.

M. d'Archiac, whose body was rumoured to have been
found in the St. Martin's Canal, is now said to have en-
tered the monastery of La Trappe.
Sixteen young men have been tried for rioting and using
seditious language a few days ago. Three were condemned
to fine and imprisonment.
Torgues, in the Var department, has just been the scene
of a tragic event. M. Rivalz, a much-esteemed mer-
chant, was in a room on the ground floor of his house,
near the Grand Cours, when a shot was fired
through one of the windows looking on the street,
and he was mortally wounded. The murderer is
said to be a farmer who had been caught in the act
of stealing manure on the property- of the deceased, and
was about to he prosecuted. He committed the crime
therefore from a spirit of vengeance. Becoming after-
wards convinced that any attempt at escape would be use-
less, he resolved to kill himself, and accordingly his body
was found under the walls of the cemetery, he having
blown out his brains.

THE TT EATIIER TABLE.-TILLS DAB

TUE SET.RET HISTORY OD XIIE
AMERICAN WAR.

The New Vark Times, in a special despatch from
Washington, asserts that the secret history of the late
American war has only just been discovered. General
Grant, as is well known, was not so popular at the
outset of his military career as ho afterwards
became, and, in fact, justice was not done to him by either
the press or the public. The military authorities were
severe upon him, and General Halleck wrote to Stanton,
blaming Grant's "neglect and inefficiency." It was in-
tended that Gen. C. F. Smith should permanently supersede
him as commander of the army in Tennessee, but that
officer dying, Grant retained the command. All kinds of
rumours were circulated about him, and he was regarded
in the army as virtually disgraced. When Grant invested
Vicksburg he was blamed on all sides. President Lincoln,
who had been his friend, wrote to tell him that
he had made a mistake, and after he had
tried one or two ineffective assaults, an order was sent to
General Banks, then investing Port Hudson, directing
him to supersede Grant and take the command of the
army himself. General Banks expostulated, and was
censured for disobedience, when suddenly Vicksburg
fell, and Grant became a popular hero. Every
scrap of paper betraying the official secret was
removed from the archives, and Banks kept his own
counsel, and thus it is said General Grant himself never
heard of the order which would have changed his whole
career until a month ago. His triumph at Vicksburg gave
Lim larger opportunities, and he has gone on from one step
to another.