The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 11, 1869

' nity. We trust that the energies of the Irish people
will respond to the call energetically made upon
them by their new Viceroy. He exclaimed with
great indignation, " You have magnificent harbours,
you have made access to the coalfields of England,
you have ample water-power, you have an intelli-
gent, energetic people, who in every part of the
world where they go, always show their energy and
activity. Why should they not be developed ? "
fie then declared that he stood there as
the representative of the English people
who had warm sympathies and hearty affec-
tions for the people of Ireland. The two people
had diversities of character, but these distinctions
did not prevent harmony, as they might work toge-
ther all the better for the common good. From the
bottom of his heart his Excellency declared that he
felt a sympathy for the Irish, and would do all that
lay in his power to render them service. For the
second time in this speech we find a remark which
reflects infinite credit upon the spokesman, and shows
that he is really imbued with that spirit of justice
which will best qualify him for his exalted position,
and responsible duties. The sentiment of seeking to
benefit the nation was no new one, he added, it was
common to both parties of the State, and he believed
that so much patriotism existed among them, even if
they differed in political feeling that their endeavours
and objects would be to promote the public weal.
The Lord Lieutenant, with just scorn and
indignation, denounced " agrarian outrages," and
expressed his conviction that the public opinion of
the country was against them. lie quite acknow-
ledged that some grievances did exist in Ireland, but
then the leaders of the people should have more faith,
and exhibit more patience. In conclusion, his Ex-
cellency emphatically said that the Irish Church
question would be dealt with by Government in a
spirit of generosity, yet with impartial justice. He
trusted that the patriotism of all would como forth
and then there would be no cause to fear for the
subject being treated in the right form, and in a way
that would prove satisfactory to the welfare of the
country.

We may fairly say that a more suitable speech
could not have been made by one in the re-
sponsible post of Lord-Lieutenant, and, quite apart
from political predilections, it may be re-
garded as the utterances of a statesman mindful
of the high ernprise on which he has started
and sensible of the weighty consequences which will
follow all his actions. The best compliment that can
be paid to this discourse is to say that, truly Liberal
in its tone, it might, with few exceptions that affect
the letter and not the spirit, have been uttered by a
Conservative. Ireland is on her trial, as it were, and
whatever be the immediate or remote consequences
of the stupendous struggle in which she is to be en-
gaged, she may rest assured that her only hope of
success will be in moderation. "In returning and
rest shall ye besaved ; in quietness and confidence shall
be your strength ;" are words of warninghat may
seem cold and strange to those who are glowing with
zeal, and have wound themselves up to a heroic pitch,
but they were the prophetic utterances of one whose
hallowed lips were touched with heavenly fire, and
whose vision could pierce through the mists and imper-
fections of time and sense until it rested in the sphere
where justice is sublime and truth remains eternal.
No better wish can be framed for the nation at
present than that it may exhibit the real feeling which
is subdued rather than excited, and the fervent
prayers of the well-wishers of the country will be
raised on behalf of peace, without which there can
be no prosperity, and, what is worse, no desert for it.
The so-called friends of Ireland have fought many a
hard fight, and encountered serious losses on her
behalf, but they would have gained a glorious
triumph had they waged warfare with themselves,
and conquered that restless craving after the unat-
tainable, which reflects no credit on the mind of the
enthusiast. They have been too ready to persist in
the belief that their own " loved island of sorrow"
could never be rendered happy to find out the right
way to make her so, and they have lacked the faith
which is not called upon to move mountains, but to
have confidence that a beneScent Providence will
crown the earnestefforts of a devoted people, and cause
the day-spring from on high to make their country
smile brighter and better than with any earthly
blessing.

SIR JOHN LAWRENCE may well have shewn deep
emotion at the banquet which was given to him on
the last day of his official connection with India.
For forty years he has lived in India; for a large
portion of that time he has lived for India. He has
seen the country governed by conquerors and by
statesmen. He has seen province added to province
until there seemed no end to our annexations; he has
seen a policy of rigid abstinence from conquest,
adopted. He has seen thousands of miles of
railway completed ; great works of irrigation
begun which will cost millions sterling. He has had
abundant opportunity for deciding between the policy
of conquest and the policy of development, and he
leaves India at a critical period, not knowing what
will be done by his successor. Whether Lord MAYO
will follow the course pursued for the last five
years, and which Sir JOHN LAWRENCE believes
firmly and almost passionately to be the only
one consistent with the peaceful maintenance of our
power in the East ; or will listen to the advice of
those whose voice is always for war, and who would
even now entangle this country in all the
hopeless confusion of Affghan politics, in order
to avert the supposed danger of an attack by
Russia, is unknown to Sir JOHN LAWRENCE
as to the rest of the world. Added to these
sources of emotion must have been the thought
in the outgoing Viceroy's mind that his career was
closed. No doubt he will do good work in England,
and there must be many posts suited to a man of his
abilities and long experience. But England can
never be to him what India is. It is the penalty which
one pays for long absence from the mother country
that when the absentee returns " home " he finds every-
thing strange and a good deal unintelligible. The
survivors of the exodus must have missed the desert, •
even when their forty years of wandering were ter-
minated by entry into the Promised Land. Much
more will the ex-Viceroy miss, in the narrow and
comparatively petty details of English politics, the
large
imperial questions which he had to decide
' when ruling 150 millions of people. He returns to
England in the body, but his spirit will remain in
the country which he has ruled and saved.
There could scarcely be a greater contrast than
that presented by the outgoing and the incoming
Viceroy. If Sir JOHN LAWRENCE was Indianised in
every fibre, in every thought, Lord MAYO landed at
Calcutta, knowing nothing of the country which he
went to govern ; no more that is, than any other
ordinarily informed Englishman. his mind on
all Indian subjects was a blank sheet of paper.
What will be written on it depends upon
the skill with which the advocates of rival I
policies imbue him with their opposing ideas.
Perchance he will be persuaded to follow the track
of his predecessor; perchance he will endeavour to
obtain greater reputation than is to be gained by
adhering to masterly inactivity. The Times finds a
subject of consolation in this freedom from prejudice
on
nthe
part of the new Viceroy. There is such a
thing as an ignorant impartiality, and we incline to
think that it would have been safer for India if
Lord MAYO had gone out with some sort of ideas
upon the great questions which he will have to
decide, rather than with a mind wholly unbiassed
because wholly uninformed,

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, WEDNESDAY, February 10,
Political news may be said to be nil. A settlement of the
difficulty at Athens is reported, but the terms are too
vague to speculate upon at present. That mode)
print the Journal Oificiel de l'Empirc occupies itself with
the important announcement that tranquillity prevails in
Cochin-China. Meanwhile the Liberal papers are wait-
ing. For what ? For the opening of the British Parlia-
ment, when they hope to gain some information
relative to the Conference embroglio ! Nothing could be
more mysterious than the present state of affairs
nothing more hopeless than the experiment of applying
for intelligence in the Corps L6gislatif. Hence non-offi-
cial Europe waits for the free and easy questioning at
St. Stephen's, in order to learn something of diplomatic
doings.

Whilst I find the English journals speak of a revival
of Protection theories in the classic region of Man-
chester, there is no doubt that free trade finds many
opponents here. It is not likely that the Government
will seriously listen to any arguments against the renewal
of the commercial treaty between England and France; it
is none the less certain that such arguments will Le pre-
sented. The manufacturers of Rouen are now getting up a
petition against the renewal of the treaty. -Their
pleas are purely and simply of the old stamp—the treaty
injures them, and ought therefore to be abolished. The
cotton trade in France has been brought to a pitiable pass
by the Free-trade conventions with England and the sur-
rounding Continental States. It was at first feared that
such a result would be produced— that the Normandy
manufacturers would be ruined by the competition; but, as
a set-off, the Government promised canals, means of
transport, and other facilities which would lessen the dis-
parity. Such has-not been the case. The manufacturers,
says the petition, made every effort, but in vain. The
establishments can work at a profit only when an advan-
tageous purchase of raw material is made, and this event
being altogether exceptional, great losses have followed,
many manufactories have been closed, and an unprecedented
number of bankrupts has been announced. The remedy
proposed is protective tariffs. The United States
is cited as au example : " This great country,
where liberty reigns so complete, owes to protec-
tive tariffs the marvellous extension of its com-
merce and industry. They are about to consume this
year a million bales of cotton, which is double what
they consumed before the war. The United States have
successfully defended their markets against the invasion of
foreign products. We pray of you, sire, to defend ours,
which the English manufacturers are the first to endeavour
to invade, by knowing how to obtain, and by continuing to
demand, day after day, the extension of the treaties which
we implore you not to renew." It would be premature
to inquire into the merits of this grievance ; hopeless,
perhaps, to expect the N( raiandy manufacturers to con-
sider the claims of the rest of France as well as their own.
One thing is becoming clear : the symptoms are growing
sufficiently decided to justify the apprehension that the
old ground will once more have to be contested, the old
battle once more fought.
Ifere is an interesting item of divorce statistics. Out
of nine hundred applications for separation, scarcely one
hundred have failed.
A strange scene—another vindication of fiction by fact—
occurred at one of the churches here a day or two ago. A
young couple, with a very fair entourage of relatives and
friends, presented themselves to be married. Just as theywere
entering the church they were confronted by a beautiful
young woman, having in her arms a child some ten
months old, and thus the mother addressed the bride-
groom : " This is your child, but you are not fit
to touch him. I shall keep him, but take these"— and she
threw about a hundred photograph likenesses of the
deceiver at his head. This astonishing procedure pro-
duced its natural effect : the bride fainted ; but a few
minutes afterwards she was restored. The little incident
was not deemed any sort of justification for interfering
with the ceremony, which was speedily performed.
In musical circles the crusade which has been com-
menced in England against the high musical pitch is
jubilantly welcomed. Unity cf diapason is a matter of
consequence to French artistes, who, whenever they cross
the Channel, have to " shunt their voices off the esta-
blished line," and strain them up to English pitch.
Nilsson, Patti, Tamberlik, and Murska have all expe-
rienced the inconvenience of the change. The first-named
beautiful and amiable lady, in particular, has heartily sup-
ported the movement, which she believes will be advan-
tageous in every way. I may just mention that Gounod,
who has contributed three new pieces to the French version
of "Faust," has promised M. Perrin a new opera,
"Francesca di Rimini," before the close of the season.
Certainly the subject is admirably adapted for an opera.

TIIE WEATIIER TABLE-TILLS' DAY.

METEOEOLOGICAL RETORTS.

Thursday,
Feb. 11,
8 a.m.

Nairn
Aberdeen
Leith
Shields
Scarborough
Yarmouth
Helder
Cuxhaven
Skudesures
Ardrossan
Green castle
dolyhcad
Liver pool
Valentia 1
Cape Clear
Roches Pt
Penzance
Plymouth
Weymouth
Portsmouth
London „

oPO4iis gei
Brest i
L'Orient
Roche fort
Biarritz
Corunna
Brussels
Paris
Strasbourg
Lyons ..
Toulon
Heart's Con-
tent (9 a.m.
local time)

29'62r.
29 GBr.
2917 r.
29 B.`s.
2918 r.
29TEr.

29134 r.
29'91r.
29'97r.
33'09r.

30 08r.
30'13r.
3016 r.
301 Cr.
30'10r.
30*C4r.
30'06r.

w_s: w,

N.W.
W.N.IV
`S. W,
W.S.
N. W.

Wi..lV.
W.S.W.
S.W.
W.
lir:H. W.

Extreme

B.w
S.W..

j W.N.W.

S.W.
S.W.
S.S.W.
W.S.W.
S.W.

W.S.W.
S.W.
S.W.
S.W.
W.S.W.
w.s. W.
W.B.W.

j 0•14,
'o'o4
10'101,
10'09
,o'oBi

1/'55
o'3o
o'l3
o'll
o'ol
i'o6i

ZXPLA NATION
Barometer corrected and reduced to 32 deg. at sea level. The
letter r, rising ; f. falling ; 5, steady—indicates direction of motion
of the mercury within last 14 hours. Thermometer exposed in
shade. Extreme Force with its Direction during last 24 hours
Z.—calm. weather : b.—blue sky ; c,—clouds, detached ; f.— fog
h.—hall ; ; In.—natty, hazy ; o.—overcast, dull ; r.—
rain ; s.—snow ; t.—thunder. rain-fall, snow or hail (melted)
daring last 24 hours. Sea disturbance.
REMARKS.

The increa.-e in barometrical pressure which commenced in the
west yesterday afternoon has continued, and tr,w extends to all
British stations. The rise has amounted to three-tenths of an inch
in the N.W , but is less in other districts. The reading at Nairn is
still 053 in. below that at Plymouth. There has again been scarcely
any change in temperature. In the north winds have freshened
from the S.W., but on our other coasts have fallen light, and veered
to W. and N. W. in Ireland. Only one of the continental reports
have at present arrived-11 a.m. Rainy weather has again been
general, and continues in the south ; in Scotland, however, the sky
is clear in places. The weather is unsettled.

MRS. STIRLING ON THE LORD CHAM-
BERLAIN'S MISSIVE.

The thirteenth anniversary festival of the Dramatic,
Equestrian, and Musical Sick Fund Association was held
at Willis's Rooms on Wednesday evening, Lieutenant-
Colonel Addison in the chair ; and there was a large
attendance of artistes. The institution was established in
1855, for the purpose of aiding the sick and indigent
members of the theatrical profession in its most compre-
hensive sense, and relieving their families when in dis-
tress. In the past year no less than 1,148 " days of sick-
ness" had been administered to, assistance had been
given to bury five persons, and twenty-five cases of dis-
tress had been relieved.

Mrs. STIRLING responded to "The Ladies," and in
doing so alluded to the Lord Chamberlain's letter respect.
ing the " shortcomings " of the ladies' ballet-dresses.
She observed : If I had the office of Lady Chamber.
lain, what sort of a letter should I issue to the managers ?
I don't think scanty petticoats would be my text. I only
wish the plays we have to act were always as satisfactory
as the dresses they are acted in, and that the worst
offences against good taste on the stage were to be
looked for in the costumes of the corps de ballet. I should
first suggest to managers to cater for the higher instead of
the lower tastes of the public, and to see whether there
is not a lurg-e class that might be drawn to the theatre by
a better style of entertainment. To some authors I
would say, if we are to have burlesque, let it be of the
humour that we remember of old, and be made up of
better. materials than nigger melodies, breakdowns, and
wire-drawn puns. I would advise the more serious dra-
matist to be realistic in higher matters than hansom cabs
and practicable pumps, and to give us characters and
incidents as like the truth as the painted scenes before
which they are played. To us actors and actresses I
would say—

" Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us
To see ourselves as ithers see us ; "

but I should think it wise to follow the example of the
Lord Chamberlain, by not venturing into any particular
or personal explanation of my general remarks. And now,
having made myself generally disagreeable, let me take
refuge under the hem of Shakspere's garment—that mantle
which has covered in its time such a multitude of stage
sins and sinners—and plead with you in the spirit,
if not exactly in the words, of Rosalind. I will allow you
to say that
," I am not a good epilogue," but I will defy
you to add that " I cannot insinuate with you on behalf of
a good play." Let me call to-night's performance " Love's
Labour Nut Lost," and refer you for the bill of incidents
and cast of the characters to the speech of the chairman
and the accounts of the secretary. I won't say "I am nut
furnished like a beggar," and I hope you won't say that
"to beg will not become me." "My way is to conjure
you," and I'll begin with the women. I charge you, 0
women, for the love you bear to men, to get as much out
of your pockets as pleases you. And so I charge you, 0
men, for the love you bear to the women (as I perceive by
your simpering none of you hate them), that between
you and the women the subscription list may
be well filled. And to shew our gratitude, if I
were you, Rosalind, I would kiss as many of you as had
beards that pleased me and complexions that liked me ;
and I am sure as many of you as have good beards and
good faces will, for my kind offer, when I make my
curtsey, bid me farewell.

_ .
The CHAIRMAN proposed "Success and Prosperity to
the Institution," and proceeded briefly to urge that this
was one of the best of charities, supported as it was by
members of the profession, especially including the ladies
who were present.

Speeches by Mr. B. Webster, Mr. Swinburne, ana
others followed, and then came a ball.

ELECTION PETITIONS,

Mr. Baron Martin's judgment in the case of Mr.
Samuelson, M.P. for Cheltenham, brings out the law as
to bribery and intimidation more clearly. The petitioners
proved that some offers
_had been made to bribe, and a
man named Cookey, a prizefighter, came forward and
swore that he had been employed to thrash certain men
in the town, and, together with some others (notably one
Brown), had been ordered to make a row at the polling.
booth. With regard to the intimidation, he declared
that, for the purpose of snaking violence and
intimidation operate on an election, it must be that
violence and intimidation which would operate on
voters and would induce persons of ordinary nerve to
abstain from voting, and unless it amounted to that it
would not void an election. It was not only that violence,
and assaults, and riots, and beating should occur to void
an election, except it should be of that character as to
render the elector reasonably unwilling to exercise the
right of voting. His lordship referred to the evidence of
Cookey and Brown, the Birmingham " roughs." He
would not believe either of them unless their evidence was
confirmed by other persons. Cookey spoke of two acts of
violence— one done at the instigation of Boodle on a person
who was no voter at all, and who had not been called
as a witness. His notion was that Cookey had rather
exaggei ated the matter, but what had that, any way, to
do with the election? The other violence which he alleged
he committed was upon the persons going to vote, whom,
he said, he jostled and pushed and tapped on the hat. He
(the learned judge) did not believe that such a thing
occurred; if it had the voters would have been there to
confirm it. There was no voter called to shew that he
had been influenced in any degree by this violence. He
therefore disbelieved Cookey entirely, and believed Lis
evidence to be false. At the same time he wished to express
his disapproval of the idea of bringing down these men at
all from Birmingham. It was not only a wrong act, but a
foolish one. The folly was greater than the wrong.
As to bribery, it would be an unfortunate thing if any man
who meant to conduct an election fairly should lose his
seat through the conduct of some third person with whom
,he was not directly connected. He believed that the evi-
dence established beyond doubt that there was no bribery
to any extent committed in the borough. He agreed with
Mr. Justice Blackburn that the giving of money was a
thing to be proved, but that when the evidence of bribery
consisted of only offers and proposals to bribe, the evidence
must be stronger than that of bribery itself. All the evi-
dence that had been given only shewed that two
sums of ls. and one of 6d. had been given, and in Lis
judgment the case as regarded bribery entirely failed.
In conclusion his lordship said he believed that on the part
of Mr. Samuelson a more honest and pure election had
never been conducted, and he had no reason to believe that
bribery or treating had anything to do with it. He should
report to the Speaker that neither of the candidates had
been guilty of bribery, and that he had no reason to think
that any corrupt practices had been exercised in the
borough. It might be that Mr. Gardner's conduct was as
pure and as honest as Mr. Samuelson's, and he thought
there had never been a more pure and honest election than
this proved in a court of justice.
Mr. Justice Blackburn is engaged at Stalybridge trying
the petition against Mr. James Sidebottom's return. In
opening the case, Mr. Pope undertook to shew that Mr.
Sidebottom's supporters engaged men ostensibly to main-
tain peace and protect the rights of their voters, but the
result was to place Stalybridge in the hands of a paid
mob in behalf of one of the candidates. On the night of the
nomination day, Mr. Sidebottom's friends instructed the
roughs to secure as many of Buckley's voters as possible,
and to "bottle" them in the committee-rooms or public-
houses. Mr. Bates, the chairman of Mr. Sidebottom's
committee, actually ordered these roughs to take forcible
possession of Mr. Buckley's voters if they could not entice
them peacefully, and to convey them to Mr. Sidebottom's
houses. This work went on the whole of the time between
the nomination and polling day; and some of the voters were
made so drunk that they could neither stand, walk, nor
speak, and they were covered up with newspapers and brown
paper that strangers might not see them. As regards treating,
evidence would be given to shew that the total of expenses
returned by Mr. Sidebottom's agents at £721 could not
possibly represent the whole of the expenditure ; the ex-
planation of this probably was that these items repre-
sented what Mr. Sidebottom's party had thought it safe
to pay up to this time, and that Mr. Sidebottom's confi-
dential agent had come to the conclusion that he had been
supplying refreshments in a way which the law would not
countenance. The bribery cases, Mr. Pope declared, were
clear except in the matter of agency, which it might be
difficult to prove.

The Pun golo of Milan gives an account of an
extraordinary calamity which occurred a few days back
during a ball at the Prefecture of Binasco. A temporary
gallery in which the musicians were placed caught fire, and
as the ladder by which they had gained access to it was
remove 3, some jumped out and were injured in falling on
elch otlur, while those who remained were more or less
severely burnt before they could be rescued. Of twenty
in all, sixteen had to be removed to an hospital; one has
since died, and others are in a critical state.
THE EASTER VOLUNTEER REVIEW.—The com-
mittee of metropolitan commanding officers appointed
report on the best site for the usual Volunteer Review at,
Easter, held under the sanction of the War Office
authorities, resumed their sittings on Tuesday. There
were four places named for the review—namely,
Brighton, Dover, Portsmouth, and Guildford —but
the last mentioned has been rejected, and Portsmouth
cannot be the scene of the review, as the South-Western
Company has declined to carry the volunteers at the mum
rates—namely, is. Gd. each for the men, and a slightly
increased charge for the officers. The claims of Brialton
and Dover will therefore be presented to the meetix4tPf all
the metropolitan commanding officers, the townspeople of
both places being desirous of the review being held tl►ere,
and the railway companies being willing to tkffixci tio
necessary aen9rpilglqtion.