The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-27 00:00:00

,MBER.

Kelso l7
Hendon l7
Monmouth . 19
Newmarket Ist October 22
West Drayton 29
IBER.

Newmarket Houghton 19
Worcester

STEEPLECHASES.
JANUARY, 1868]
1 I Reading
FEBRUARY.
Birmingham

Manchester

MARCH.

Grand Military l6, 17 I Cheltenham ......., 26, 27

BOXING-DAY SPORTS.

In consequence of the dense fog which hung over the
metropolis and the suburban districts yesterday many of
the events that had been arranged to take place at the
various running grounds bad to be postponed. At the
famed "curriculum" of Hackney Wick a 410 yards and
one mile handicap were to have come off. The Prince of
Wales Grounds at Bow were to have been especial!), at-
tractive, for here J. Brighton, of pedestrian fame, offered
three very handsome cups for competition ; but. these are
deferred sine die, and the only "resort" that in any way
adhered to the programme was the

The Times deems the appeal of the Government for the
assistance of private persona in maintaining the peace
and guarding property to have been sufficiently answered
in the metropolis. It is stated that in London and the
suburbs 30,000 special constables have been sworn in, and
that all the most important cetablishments, both public
and private, are watched by a vigilant force, in addition
to the police. These precautions, we trust, will be suffi-
cient to prevent any mischief, either on the part of Irish
desperadoes or of ordinary criminals who might desire to
take advantage of the withdrawal of the police from any
paint to effect their purposes. It is satisfactory to ob-
serve that the special constables are really active in
their work, and even in this unpleasant weather are
at their posts nightly. Certainly, it is not with-
out reason they have been called on to act ; the
danger, though it may be exaggerated by the vasue
pprehensions of those who are threatened and know not
when they may be assailed, is real, and the impunity
which foggy days and dark nights seem to promise is an
inevitable temptation to the evildoer. During the present.
winter season vigilance ought to be everywhere main-
tained. There is not, indeed, any ground for alarm, for
nothing indicates that the disaffected will attempt any act
which would endanger the public peace on a large scale ;
but, we repeat, there is reason to believe that property,
both public and private, may be mischievously damaged,
and it is the interest as well as the duty of all citizens to
be vigilant in the matter. - It will become the duty of the
specials to look upon themselves as the guardians of the
public peace as long as the Fenian alarm lasts, and to per-
fect their organisation as far as possible by the eleCtion of
good.officere and by ready attendance whenever they may be •
required. But they need not anticipate that they will be
called up`tm for any unnecessary exertions. Although in
law their duties are extensive, they will practically be
asked only to look after their. own or their employers' pro-
perty, and, in case of . attempted riot, to guard the peace
of the town. We would advise the chief employers of
labour to be sworn in themselves, and to request their men
to follow their example. Every large establishment cu; ht
to be, to a great extent, self-pi-otective, since the number
of persons employed allows the work to be done without
excessive fatigue to anyone. With such an organisation
as may be effected with little trouble and little cost in
every town, there need be no further alarm conceining
these mischievous reprobates. At present any evil-dis-
posed person— and the number of such is always increased
in a time of commotion—has it in his power to du infinite
mischief whenever the policeman's back is turned. Bat
the very knowledge that the chief buildings of a town are
watched by those who have the strongest interest to
defend them will be enough to deter the bad characters of
the place.

The Herald points out that in cities like London and
Manchester, in towns like Liverpool, Birmingham, and
Warrington, a solitary incendiary may do an amount of
mischief in five minutes which in y destroy the work of
five hundred honest men's lives. And when, as at the
House of Detention, some of the most explosive agents
known to modern science are employed to shatter down a
prison wall, on the bare chance of rescuing a couple of
persons lying there under remand, one can hardly take toc
extensive precautions against a repetition of similar out-
rages. Therefore does it seem especially desirable that
the special constables should be stationed as watchmen
outside any buildings whose magnitude and importance
make it probable that the Fenians will select them for the
fulfilment of their dark and dastardly designs. The
regular police are numerically insufficient to do this with-
out neglecting their ordinary duties. But an adequate
staff of specials, judiciously disposed under the superinten-
dence of the commissioners, would meet the guerilla opera-
tions of the would-be incendiaries with the practical
übiquity of men thoroughly detesting their treason, but
still more heartily hating the treacherous and inhuman
means by which the traitors have hitherto endeavoured to
compass their purposes. The endeavour to repress and
defeat them is one in which every loyal subject ought
gladly to engage.
In the details of the ghastly murder perpetrated at
Longden, there occurs an incident which, as the Telegraph
reminds us, suggests serious ground for reflection. The
man upon whom the burden of suspicion rests of being
the murderer of the unhappy child, Catherine Lewis, was
ticket-of-leaver. Seven years ago this fellow Mapp was
convicted of a brutal outrage, committed on an aged
woman, and he was sentenced to ten years' transportation.
How is it, we should like to learn, that the sentence was
commuted? Were there any circumstances which threw
doubt on its justice, or was the man's conduct in prison so
exceptionally good, that he deserved to be discharged be-
fore his time ! The whole system of commuting punish-
ment calls for inquiry. Either longer periods of imprison-
ment should be allotted, or else the authorities should ad-
here to the term fixed. As it is, a sentence of penal servi-
tudeloses its terrors, because the convict knows that it
will not be rigidly carried out.
From the fact that the Shrewsbury murder was com-
mitted at the very time that the gallows was being erected
for the Alton murderer, the Star argues that capital
punishment has no terrors for the hardened criminal.
Calcraft at Manchester had no terrors for Fenianism.
Calcraft at Winchester had no terrors for those who do
murder. The proofs are conclusive. The facts are indis-
putable. Let us then try some other and wiser method of
dealing with high crimes. Nothing could be worse than
the existing system, short of according to criminals almost
entire immunity from punishment.

The Standard expressos its conviction that of all the
disreputable shams which are to be found, none is worse
or more painful than that which is called " Christmas
Waits." Instead of sweet, solemn, and yet joyous music,
sounds as of " a holy solemnity kept in the night," the
streets during Advent are infested, from the hours of one
to four in the morning, with " beery" musicians, just let

loose from the public-houses in which drinking is done tr
the sound of the fiddle, flute, harp, and accordion. The
tunes played are usually popular airs, certainly with no
" relish of salvation " in them, and the singing, when any
:s attempted, is of the same character. The " Christmas
Carol" proper may be said to have entirely disappeared.
and although the attempt to restore it maybe praiseworthy,
the task seems hopeless, and the effort this year to one, at
least, party of choristers was unfortunate. In several dis.
tricts the singers at the churches therein situate turn out
on Christmas morning to compete with the gin and beer
musicians above described, and assembling beneath the
windows of their respective patrons and admirers, sing
carols and hymns. A choir of this sort seems to have got
into difficulties in Greek-street, Soho ; and a row having

ensued, the choir-master was locked up for disorderly con-
duct. A girl, sister of one of the singers, was also taken
into custody for coming to the rescue with a cabbage-
stalk. The clergyman of the district complained of the
interference of the police with the carol singers, and the
magistrate at Marlborough-street, with some remarks of
the same kind, dismissed the charges against both the
prisoners.

To sum up the scheme of reorganisation of the French
army, it is seen that conscription is, in time of peace, a
sort of compulsory education for adult males, and in time
of war those who serve their country will share in the rank
and distinction it has at its disposition. The Post thinks
that if the pill is to be swallowed any elaborate gilding
would seem to be superfluous. If the French know that
it concerns the interests and the honour of their country
to make the required sacrifice—for, after all, it comes to
that—they will not need to be told that the way of duty
is pleasant, and that it leads to the garden of matrimony
in which they may pick the prettiest flowers. It ought
not to be difficult to resolve such a question. The absence
'of sufficient security, if not experienced, should be sus-
ceptible of an appreciable explanation. It may be thought
that France possesses power in a policy of generosity and
moderation, and strength in her imposing unity. Still,
that would only be a moral security, and it is not as if
other countries relied on moral securities alone. The cir-
cumstance that more or less formidable armies are indis-
pensable to the exercise of moral influence should be con-
sidered with reference to the idea of non-intervention from
which it has arisen. To arrive at any measure of dis-
armament there must be a better understanding of inter-
national duties.

The difficulty and delay which have been experienced in
.urnishing an army. to penetrate a country defended by
unarmed and uncivilised people is, according to the
Daily News, instructive just now, when we hear of the
impatience of our Anglo-Indians to embark in warlike
operations on a large scale. Almost every mail from Cal-
cutta brings us intelligence of the difficulty which the
Governor-General has in restraining the bellicose ardour
of a powerful party in the Indian service. Our Indian
officers are a noble set of fellows; they are, in fact, only of
too generous a temper. One half of them cannot live
without somebody to govern and bring them under
" rythmic drill," and the other half will soon die of vexa-
tion if we do not give them leave to go and fight some-
body. For the last two years a grand expedition into
Affghanistan has been their sleeping and their waking
dream. With Sir John Lawrence it is very clear that
such an enterprise is contrary to sound policy, but impe-
tuous spirits are not convinced by his reasoning. They
cannot bear to see the revenues extracted from the rice-
eaters of India frittered away upon tanks, and irrigation
canals, and anicuts, when Affghanistan is an unappro-
priated prize, and they burn to go where glory awaits
them. The way in which this petty war with Abyssinia
has been so far managed makes our contemporary hope
that Bir John will hold hiasxound.