The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-07 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONLO,N, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 7, 1867.

ward (not paupers) both for day and night, im-
proved system of ventilation, and waterclosets,''
while other wants are summed up in " &c." His
duties compelled him to attend to the house twice
a day, and he was called at all hours when necessary,
and he saw, prescribed for, and dispensed for all the
patients on the sick book morning and evening.
His salary was £l3O per annum, and his emolu-
ments about £l5 per annum, the guardians finding
only quinine and cod liver oil. The drugs cost him
about £3O a year, and an assistant £BO. He con-
sidered that all the drugs should be found by the
guardians, that a qualified assistant should be paid
by the guardians, that he should have £l5O per
annum, with extras, as the district surgeon. These
illustrations of workhouse infirmary management
are taken haphazard from the official papers.

The Land Laws ( f England, France, and

America.

At the annual dinner of the Goudhurst Agricultural As-
sociation on Friday evening, the President, Mr. Beresford
Hope, M.P., in the course of proposing the toast of the
evening, " Success to the Goudhurst Agricultural Associa-
tion and the Hop Trade," after alluding to topics of a local
nature, said—l do not think there is anything more of
special local interest to which I need refer, but as Gond-
burst is only a part of the great commonwealth of England,
we feel an interest in everything that affects the great
country in which we live. (Hear, hear.) On occasions
like this party politics are shut out, and rightly so too, but
at the same time there are considerations which are not
matters of party politics but of national pride, national
glory and advancement, which none of us should shrink
from owning to each other. (Hear, hear.) It is not party
politics that make us drink " The Queen," that make us
drink "The Archbishop and Clergy," and "The Army and
Navy," but in drinking all these toasts we drink the honour
and glory of old England and those ancient institutions
which have made England what she is ; and we are all
pledged to each other as Englishmen to stand shoulder to
shoulder as one man if the enemy dare to attack us
(Cheers.) When the enemy dares to attack us do we say,
" Oh, I am a Tory, you are a Whig, you aro a Conserva-
tive or a Conservative Liberal, and that man is a Conserva-
tive Liberal?" No, no ; we say wo are Englishmen, and as
such we meet together for Queen and Constitution, for our
good old Parliament, for the House of Lords, for our Judges,
and for our happy land—(cheers)—and I say we will do that
whether the national enemy approaches in the shape of a
Napoleon or of a bliistering, foul-mouthed Quaker from
Rochdale. 1 say that—and I am not talking politics—the
national enemy has unveiled himself—(hear, hear)—and all
of us —I don't care whether we are men who vote fur Holmes-
dale (Conservative M.P. for West Kent) or for Angerstein
(late Liberal candidate)—must as Englishmen stand up to-
gether for our old English system against any who come
foul-mouthedly to calumniate us. Do any of us, as English-
men,want to hear that the House of Commons is paralysed
for good, and that not merely one side —the side of Holmes-
dale or Lee —but that both sides, Conservatives and Libe-
rals, are actually unfit to legislate for the people ?—for that
is es hat we aro told. (Hear.) Are we to be told that it is
a good thing for the United Kingdom, and good for free-
dom everywhere, that they—meaning all the classes, the
lowest labouring class, and everybody in the world who
has or has not the ability, means, or honesty to gain a
penny—that they should seize the sceptre which for the
last 200 years has been wielded by a class—that is, to seize
the sceptre from us? What is seizing the sceptre ? It means
a violent act, upsetting one rule and setting up another.
And do any of you—l care not what your colours are, blue
or purple—wish an uprising of what is called "the million"
to come and seize the sceptre from you ? Now, here is a
definition of what seizing the sceptre means —" Why, if a
man rose from the dead on the floor of the House of Com-
mons to point out the terrible consequences of the land
laws to the great bulk of the population labouring on the
land, to the great or small landowners, they would say he
was an impostor, and tell him to be gone to the realms
whence he came." That is saying, in other words, "Go to
the Devil." (Hear, hear.) Now, what are these land laws? I
ant you to understand this question thoroughly, and that I
am not going into party politics, unless going into party
politics means standing up for this old England as she
always has been. The groat thing that has made England
so great has been the perfect freedom of rich and poor to
dispose of their own as they like—(cheers)—the power of
buying and selling and making wills as they like. When
the gentry and nobility of France—unlike those of Nng-
land —stuck to privilege, and brought about the French
Revolution, that power of making wills, which is true free-
dom of man, and the right of disposing of his own, was
abolished, the law came in and decided it for him, that his
property was to bo cut up among the dutiful and the un-
dutiful, that they were all to share alike, not because thers
was any good in them, but because the law saw no means
of setting up liberty other than by trampling down inde-
pendence and making a dead level of equality; and all
this because they could not brook there should be any dis-
tinction of good or bad in the land. Again, I ask, what
are the laud laws of England ? We hear a great deal about
tyranny and oppression by the landed gentry, and all be-
cause they have been content to he groping up to the true
laws of economic science. The protected classes were
some time before they saw that protection did more harm
than good ; but everybody was alike, for the farmer
stuck to protection and so did the manufacturer. The
science of free trade is like the science of gunnery, or
anything of that sort which has made great develop-
ment in our times ; but the man who stands up and
always accuses the agricultural classes of malignity and
hatred because they were slow in learning the laws
of free trade is as foul-mouthed a misrepresentor of
things as the man who would gat up and say that the
Duke of Wellington was a traitor to England because he
saw the merits of " Brown Bess," and could not understand
what a rifled breech-loader could do. Just the same thing
may be said with regard to the old corn laws ; they were the
" Brown Bess" of their day, while the breech-loader repro
sents the modern system of free trade ; and there is no more
malignity in the farmer having his eyes opened to the ad-
vantages of free trade than there is in the cotton-spinner
having his eyes opened, or in the soldier having his eyes
gradually opened to the merits of the rifled breech-loader.
But why is the man to go to the Devil if he gets up and
tells us the disadvantages of the land laws ? What are these
land laws? They are the laws which established perfect
free trade in the land, and which allow a man who has
money to buy land, and allows him if hard up to sell his
land. They are those laws which allow the farmer and
landlord to deal with each other in the position of the
man who lets and tho man who takes a tenancy at will,
and the man who lets or takes land on lease, as the case
l world,
?A
England
garne
ad: t
iodlneyae
loexisting
aboutn o tnonsense
en
nei
sne
dozenhd ai f different
en-
tails. been
nt
elastickt
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,b
utsh:
there
eel mi
may be. This system, I say, is the most perfect and
in
aa what
ntel Uaetl al i
countries under different tenures. Then people talk of en-
e
talked about entails; but the fact is, as all people ought to
" Entail" means land that must go from one succes-
sor to the other. Among the few entails in Englund, there
are thosa of the Duke of Marlborough, the Duke of Wel-
lington, Lord Nelson (given for magnificent public services),
Lord Shrewsbury, Lord Abergavenny, Lord Pembroke,
and a few others ; but the rest we hear spoken of as entails
aro not a bit of entail. It is simply a business transaction,
by which a person may secure the possession of his pro-
perty for two or three generations by a deed, which deed
those who come after him, under most circumstances, may
break, if they like. What is commonly called an entail is
as much a business transaction as a time-bargain or any
other thing which cannot bo settled on the nail this very
afternoon, but must take some little time to run out. Then,
again, we hear a great deal about the accumulation of land
in private hands; and no doubt this does take place here
and there, but it is generally in the case of those persons
who have made their money in trade —and quite right too,
for, having made their money honestly, why should they
not invest it in the purchase of land ? But those people who
talk of the great accumulation of land don't say anything
about the many old estates which are broken up. Perhaps
there is an old place some five or six miles from London or
Birmingham which is broken up, and then, perhaps, built
up again, and then pulled down and turned into villas, just
as population fluctuates. And this is just as it should be,
and is a means of making money cheaply. But people say,
"Just alter the law a bit, and let a man's land be cut up g
he chooses without a will." But what would follow ? Why,
you set up a prejudice against a man leaving his land as he
likes. Perhaps a minor dies—the last heir of a grand old
property which he cannot leave by will because ho is not
of age, and thus, in spite of himself, the property has to
be cut up to gratify a few people who wish to level
the system of England to that of France. (Hear, hear.) I
assure you, gentlemen, if it were only to have led the House
of Commons to a successful resistance in the last session to
a bill for making that change in the law, I should have been
glad that I came into Parliament at the last general election,
for I am satisfied it would be the beginning of the end.
And what is that end ? It is the French system. I don't
hold up America as an example, but in America, though
in many of the States they aro afraid to make an eldest sou,
they are not absolutely obliged to cut up their property, as
they are in Franco. A merica being such an enormous
country, and so thinly populated, a man who wants land
can go and buy it; in fact, he can have it almost for the
asking; so that a system which would be very troublesome
here would not have the same effect in America, England
being an old country, with a teeming population and a
limited acreage. According to our system, they say that
every man cannot get his piece of land. That may be, and
it may be a hardship in some cases, but in many cases it is
a useful hardship, because it drives mon to emigrate to Aus-
tralia, Canada, or New Zealand. It may drive a man to the
United States, and I don't blame him for going there, but I
should rather wish that he wont to some place over which
the good old Union Jack still waves. There he becomes a
thriving citizen and the owner of hundreds of acres of
land. Whereas, if it were the law to divide the laud, we
should have lazy fellows hanging on for the third of a
cabbage garden which might come to them by their father's
decease. That system of the division of the land has utterly
reduced the peasantry 9i X'oneo morally and hatolloQ-

tually. They have a craving hankering after the land
which they have no capital and no enterprise to cultivate.
There is a sort of feeling on their part that they must have
their land, and that they must use their land, and so, ac-
cordingly, instead of going out as they might do and gain-
ing an honest livelihood, they eke out a miserable subsistence
on a small estate ; but calling it an "estate" is a joke ; I
should say that " patch" which not their father but the law
gives them over their father's head, and which they take
without gratitude to him from whom it came. The effect this
system has in demoralising the country is dreadful to reflect
upon. It is a thing almost too dreadful to say, but I be-
lieve that the diminution of the population of France is a
great deal owing to the fact that the parents don't like to
see their land cut up into nothing, and accordingly we have
families of three and four children only. Why only three
or four? It is a dark mystery. Certainly hit-ailro-Tra. ture
is human nature ; but the maternal naWre and the pa-
ternal nature arc steeled in France to the desire of seeing
many rosy infantile faces round their hearths. That
is a known fact, and there are things which cannot be
spoken of except guardedly, and only in meetings of men,
and I believe a great deal of it is attributable to that infa-
mous system of the necessary division and subdivision of
land and property among all the offspring. Marriages be-
come a mete matter of bargain; the man has a third of his
father's property, and the woman he takes to wife has a third
or a quarter of a half of her father's property ; and so it is
simply a union of two misbroken halves put together. Sons'
sons go on making these sorts of marriages, and thus you see
how this villainous system poisons the very birth-springs of
human life and human mortality in every shape; and it is
what we are to come to—equal division of land and universal
suffrage. France got an equal division of land 70 years ago,
and universal suffrage 19 years ago; and then the third
thing came—Napoleon's heel on the neck of the people.
Napoleon there, and universal suffrage and a universal di-
vision of property not abolished, not altered, but main-
tained, because they were the right arm and the left arm
with which a tyrant and a despot maintained his power.
This, too, is what you are promised if " the million " are
allowed to seize the sceptre which you have had for 200
years. This is against the system of free England, against
the mutual dependence of classes, mutual favoursfrom one
class without insolence, and gratitude without servility
from the other. Freedom to make your money ; freedom
to spend your money, freedom to buy, and freedom to sell
land, freedom to marry, freedom to make your will, free-
dom to travel, freedom to breathe, freedom to worshipyour
God as you like, freedom in all things, with order and due
subordination everywhere—(cheers)—that is the English
system which thisman is to rise from the dead and say shall
be abolished ; this is that system which the House of Com-
mons, which is " paralysed for good,"has ever kept up. I
call on you, I say, not as Conservatives, not as Libe-
rals, not as Whigs, not as Tories, but as Englishmen who
love old England, to stand together and see that that man,
the national enemy, does not lead his hordes on to tear
us down and establish the grievous tyranny of a demo-
cratic equality in its place. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDEN7 AND 7HE CONS7ITU-

TION.

A Washington journal, which is looked upon as
the organ of President Johnson, publishes an ar-
ticle declaring that if the Radical majority in Con-
gress continue their treasonable course the Executive
Government will arm its supporters. The Presi-
dent, it says, will not forget his oath to defend the
constitution, and the army and navy will respond
to his call. It further declares that President
Johnson will serve out his term of office. This
might be alarming, as it is the latest news from
Washington
,by the Hamburgh and American
steamship Saxonia. But it does not seem to frighten
Wall-street, as the tendency of gold is downwards,
and the tendency of Government securities is up-
wards. Yet it does shadow out a terrible possi-
bility—the chances of a civil war so horrible that
the very thought is sufficient to stop the pulsations
of an American's heart. The President is a deter-
mined man, and the Republican leaders are equally
determined. It is clear, however, from the last
prices by the cable that the nation is not alarmed,
and probably from the calm confidence they feel
that neither party dare proceed to extremities
there is an uneasy feeling in
till their decision is made known. No doubt.
Europe, but this
is not on the part of the Americana. Messrs.
Bowles, Drevet, and Co., a reliable authority for
Paris, in their circular just to hand, remark :
" Nevertheless, as regards merely speculative opera-
tions, the heaviest interest is still for the fall, many
pessimits predicting troubles on the other side of
the ocean, and repeating continually that America
is threatened with a terrible financial crisis."
iarepetiytsa:liirfrhitnleija:essi•saonfirulidl.nlid passedt
tlti ,lh,elneeiidlq.
oiteculindeed,rhdvaeeesytttbioieloirafln,lotpl
push
eitheroes
o relmduati
octhtkfeel
their
rs
theoapt to
ne con-
tendingeni
oxen-
iinmap
imposing
iffnegreandtdliitgi
additional
.a' ;
limits to the President's appointing
Sumner, in a speech in the Senate, alluded to Mr.
Johnson as an usurper and a monster of discor d.--
Anglo-American Times.

It is curious to contrast the rate of discount at
the principal monetary centres of Europe—Amster-
dam, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfort, Hamburg, London,
and Paris—during 1866. At Amsterdam the year
opened with a 6 per cent. discount rate. In the
second week of the year there was an advance to
61 per cent., but in the Bth week there was a fall to
6, and in the 11th to 51. Iu the 18th week the
rate went to 6, and in the 19th to 6f. In the 27th
week of the year it further advanced to 7, sinking,
however, to 61 in the 32d, 6 in the 33d, 51 in the
39th, 5 in the 43:i, and 41 in the 51st week. Berlin
commenced 1866 with a discount rate of 7 per cent.,
which sunk to 6 in the Bth week, advancing, how-
ever, to 7 in the 16th week, and to 9 in the 19th week.
In the 29th week there was a fall to 7, in the 30th
week to 6, in the 321 week to 5, in the 44th week
to 41, and in the 51st week to 4. At Brussels
there were very few fluctuations. They may be
summed up • as follows : Commencement of
the year 5 per cent., 9th week, 4 ; 20th week, 5 ;
22d week, 6 ; 33d week, 4 ; and 38th week, 3.
At Frankfort the rather more numerous fluctuations
were :—Commencement of the year, 6 per cent. ;
2d week, 7 ; 3d week, 5f ; 4th week, 5 ; 7th week,
41 ; 10th week, 4 ; 12th week, 41 ; 16th week, 5 ;
19th week, 6 ; 20th week, 7 ; 26th week, 6; 33d
week, 5 ; 34th week, 4 ; 41st week, 41 ; and 46th
3f. At Hamburg there were no fewer than 31
changes in the rate of discount during the past year.
In the Ist quarter the fluctuations were from 41 to
7 per cent. ; in the 2d quarter, from 5f to 84 ; in
the 3d quarter, from 31 to 61 ; and in the 4th quar-
ter from 3f to 41. At London the year opened
with a discount rate of 8 per cent., which fell to 7
in the Bth, and to 6 in the 11th week of the year.
In the 18th week the rate rose to 7 ; the 19th week
to 9 ; and in the 20th week to 10. This rate continued
33d week when it sunk to 8, declining further to 7
in the 34th week, and sin the 36th week. It after-
wards fell to 4} in the 39th week, 4 in the 45th
week, and 31 in the 51st week. At Paris discount
was kept within very moderate bounds in 1866, the
year commencing with 5 per cent., from which there
was a fall to 4f in the 7th week, 4 in the Bth week,
31 in the 12th week, 4 in the 19th week 3f iu the
30th week, and 3 in the 35th week.
The Russian contribution to the Paris Exhibi-
tion will be far richer, more complete, and much
more interesting than that sent to the International
of 1862. The Government grant in 1862 was
75,000 roubles, it is now 220,000. Part of this
amount is destined to defray the expenses of car-
riage, and the remainder will be spent in the pur-
chase of specimens necessary to complete the various
collections when they have not been offered by the
producers themselves. M. Spakoffsky will show
the ingenious use he makes of turpentine. Not
content with exhibiting his lamps, samovars, and
signal lights to be used at sea, he sends over a small
steamer, the machinery of which is set in motion in
an incredibly short space of tune through the agency
of turpentine. Mr. Zaroubine sends a pump of
his own invention, for drawing water from the
deep wells of the Crimea. The Russian
catalogue will be extremely valuable to those
who are curious to know the sources of Rus-
sian wealth. It will show that nothing is wanted
but improved means of internal communication
and a wise administration, to make Russia one of
the richest countries in Europe. Large coloured
maps will be exhibited, which show at a glance the
nature, soil, the mineral productions and the quantity
of wood in different districts ; in what provinces
flax and hemp are chiefly cultivated ; where sugar
is manufactured; and where sheep, horned cattle,
and horses are reared. These maps will also show the
corn districts and the means of communication be-
tween them and the seaport towns.

HEALTH OF LONDON.

(From the Registrar-General's Return.)

General Register-office, Somerset-house, Feb. 4.

In the week that ended on Saturday, February 2,
the births registered in London and 12 other large
towns of the United Kingdom were 4,800; the
deaths registered, 3,557. The annual rate of mor-
tality was 30 per 1,000 persons living.
In London the births of 1,237 boys and 1,153
girls, in all 2,390 children, were registered in the
week. In the corresponding weeks of ten years
1857-66 the average number, corrected for increase
of population, was 2,234.
The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,628. It was the fifth week of the year, and
the average number of deaths for that week is, with
a correction for increase of population, 1,600. The
deaths in the present return exceed the estimated
number by 28.
The deaths have fallen from 1,880 in the previous
week to 1,628, as the weather has grown milder;
and now we have fortunately passed the coldest
month of the year. The reduction in the number of
deaths as winter has relented is visible at every pe-
riod, except the last age of all (80 to 100 years), at
which 100 deaths were recorded.

The diseases of the lungs grew frequent and fatal,
but have now declined. Thus, the deaths from
bronchitis in the six weeks were at first 224 and 178,
then, as the effects of severe frost accumulated, 375,
308, and 390, falling down finally this week to 271.
No death from cholera has been registered for a
fortnight, but the deaths from diarrhoea have in-
creased. While the epidemic of scarlatina is de-
clining smallpox is increasing, and last week 55
persons died of the disease in London-22 in the
north (where the Smallpox Hospital is situate), 13
in the east, and 16 in the south districts.
The deaths returned last week in London and in
12 other large towns of the United Kingdom fur-
nishing returns showed a decrease of 586 upon those
of the previous week ; of this decrease 252 occurred
in London, 107 in Liverpool, 110 in Manchester,
and 63 in Glasgow. In Dublin alone was shown a
further considerable -increase upon recent weeks;
the 286 deaths exceeded by 122 the corrected
average 'weekly number, and included 102 fatal
cases of bronchitis.

Kensington-Town.—At the Feathers Inn, Not-
ting-hill, a farm labourer, aged 70 years, " starva-
tion and exposure to cold ;" post mortem ; inquest.
Chelsea North-East. —At Manchester-terrace,
Kensall New-town, on the 13th of January, a
laundress, aged 20 years, " exposure to atmosphere ;"
post mortem ; inquest. Marylebone—Rectory.-L
At 27, Wigmore-street, on the 19th of January, a
domestic servant (female), aged 54 years, " bron-
chitis accelerated by cold and want of attendance ;"
post mortem ; inquest. St. Luke. Whitecross-
street.—At 10, Frederick-place, on the 26th of
January, a female, aged two years, " blood poison-
ing from sleeping and living in a room of insufficient
space and greatly overcrowded ;" inquest. Shore-
ditch—Haggerstone East.—At 7, Belgrave-terrace,
Queen's-road, on the 21st of January, a woman,
aged 51 years, " from want of food, warmth, and
other necessaries ;" post mortem ; inquest. White-
chapel—Church.—At the London Hospital, on the
31st of January, the son of a coachman, aged four
years, " hydrophobia from the bite of a dog;" in-
quest. Whitechapel—Aldgate—Found dead at
Shorter's-rents, on the Ist of February, a shoe-
black, aged 65 years, " effusion on brain accele-
rated by privation ;" post mortem ; inquest.
The annual rate of mortality last week was 28
per 1,000 in London, 30 in Edinburgh, and 47 in
Dublin, 31 in Bristol, 26 in .Birmingham, 30 in
Liverpool, 32 in Manchester, 31 in Salford, 29 in
Sheffield, 32 in Leeds, 30 in Hull, 32 in Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, and 35 in Glasgow. The rate in Vienna
was 27 per 1,000 during the week ending the 26th
ult., when the mean temperature was 11.1 deg.
Fahrenheit lower than in the same week in London,
where the rate was 32.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.871 m.
The barometrical reading increased from 29-43 in.
on Wednesday to 30-32 in. by the end of the week.
The mean temperature of the air in the week was
46 deg., which is 7.9 deg. above the average of the
same week in 50 years (as determined by Mr.
Glaisher). The highest day temperature was 55 deg.
on Sunday. The lowest night temperature was 35
deg. on Saturday. The entire range of temperature
in the week was, therefore, 20 deg. The mean of
the highest temperatures of the water of the Thames
was 42.9 deg. ; that of the lowest was 40.2 deg.
The difference between the mean dew-point tempe-
rature and air temperature was 3.7 deg. The mean
degree of humidity of the air was 87, complete satu-
ration being represented by 100. Rain fell to the
amount of 0.54 in., of which 0-43 in. fell on Wed-
nesday. The general direction of the wind was
S.W. According to a return furnished by the en-
gineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the
average daily quantity of sewage pumped into the
river Thames at the Southern Outfall Works, Cross-
ness, was 48,688,589 gallons, or 221,214 cubic
metres, equivalent to about as many tons by weight.

The " Standard's" Picture of Thaddeus
Stevens.

A most amusing description is given in the letter
of the Washington correspondent of the Standard,
dated January 15, of TIIADDEUS STEVENS, the Re-
publican leader in Congress. The rumour is first
alluded to of his insanity, which the writer contra-
dicts. He then asks who is TIIADDEUS STEVENS,
and proceeds to answer the question. Mr. STEVENS
was born in Vermont in 1783. He began life as a
teacher in a country school, from which he took to
the highway as a travelling pedlar. As a true
Yankee he was successful in this line, and gathered
$3,000 in hard coin. With this he settled in Lan-
caster, became a justice of the peace, a member of
the State Legislature, and, finally, a Representative
in Congress in 1849. He was returned at every
election save one since that time. Yet this veritable
authority in the next sentence informs us that " he
obtained for himself the reputation of a harmless
old buffoon" (!) The old buffoon, however, cleared
a handsome fortune by extensive iron-works in
Pennsylvania, and rose to political eminence by un-
compromising opposition to the South. In person,
according to the correspondent, Mr. STEVENS is
short and gaunt, with a wizened, dried-up face,
shrivelled like a half-frozen apple ; sharp eyes, acute
nose, thin lips, large mouth, false teeth ; sur-
mounted by a juvenile wig, that gets awry as
the speaker becomes excited, to the amuse-
ment of the House. He is not a statesman nor
a scholar, with little ability as a politician, one who
never drew up a bill not unconstitutional, nor pro-
posed a measure not replete with flaws. Yet
comes the same absurd contradiction in our
authority, for " he is said to be something more
than the master of the Radicals in Congress—he is
their owner." This is a sample of the portraits
drawn of political opponents in the United States
when party spirit runs high, and it could not find
a better medium for expression than in the columns
of the Standard. Analyse all this, wash off the war-
point, and what do we find ? An old gentleman born
in a humble sphere of life working up by steady in-
dustry till he attains the most powerful position in
a leading nation of the world, besides accumulating an
immense fortune. Not one single act of meanness
or dishonesty can be attributed to him even in such
bitter sketches as these. He sputters in speaking ;
his wig gets awry ! The Confederates, in their in-
vasion of Pennsylvania, destroyed his iron-works.
For this he hates them, and intends to make them
pay over and over again." Such pictures are too
coarsely and clumsily contrived to have any effect
in injuring the Republican leader.—Anglo American
Tinzes.

Count de Castiglione, aide-de-camp of the King
of Italy, is on his way to Egypt, according to the
journals of Cairo, to present the Viceroy with the
Collar of the Annunciada. The Florence press,
however, declares that he is going to the East merely
for change of climate necessitated by the state of
his health. Perhaps both accounts are correct.

SMOKING.—The Inland Revenue returns show
that the habit of smoking is gradually extending. In the
year 1841 the weight of tobacco consumed in the United
Kingdom was less than 14oz. per head of the population ;
in 1851 it had risen to a fraction over llb per head;
in 1861 it was 111 i 3oz. ; in 1863, llb 4oz. ; and 1864, llb
ouncvs.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS•

TlMES.—Never has Parliament been promised so
much work as the Royal Speech of 1867 has sketched
out. The veriest glutton of business— the man who
appears first in February and is the last to quit the
precincts of Westminster at the end of July, or,
happier still for him, in August, who sits on every
possible committee, and never misses a sitting, who
secures his seat every night by being always at
prayers, and is more to be depended upon than the
Sergeant-at-Arms—may revel in the occupation that
lies before him. The affluence of the new Adminis-
tration in the matter of Bills is overwhelming ; no-
thing comes amiss to them ; there is scarcely a branch
of legislation they do not promise to touch, if not to
adorn. Indeed, the Parliamentary glutton we have
described might look forward with some dismay to
what would happen if all these promises were kept.
If every grievance were at once to be abated, what
would Parliament have left to do next session ? If
the law were to be perfected out of hand, the busi-
ness of Reformers and politicians would be sus-
pended, and common humanity should make us feel
some pity at the prospect of a House of frozen-out
legislators. Perhaps, however, there will be one or
two questions left unsolved to afford matter for a
Royal Speech in another session. There is room
for hope, and, indeed, our confidence in the future
is increased when we come to scan the details of the
Ministerial Bill of fare. Some of the dishes are
already rechauffes, and there can be no.surety that
a thing which has been twice warmed may not be
warmed up again. That terrible pace de resistance,
for example, in the centre of the menu has proved to
be too much at many banquets, and, though our
hope of seeing the last of it may be stronger now
than it ever has been, hope does occasionally tell a
too flattering tale. Reform is, however, not the
only item in the programme whiel is an old acquaint-
ance. We seem to have heard before of the amend-
ment of the Law of Bankruptcy. What session has
there been for many years past in which we have not
been promised a full, final, and perfect amendment
and consolidation of the Bankruptcy Law ? Lord
Westbury, when he was as yet Sir Richard Bethel, to
go no further back, introduced a bill which was to
cure every past defect, and was warranted against
subsequent failure ; but the end of the session came,
and the bill had to-be withdrawn before it could get
out of the Lower House. A year later, and the
Bankruptcy Act of 1861 was actually passed; and
after all the lawyers discovered, and too plainly
proved, that it was one of the worst measures that
ever received the sanction of Parliament. Incom-
plete and discordant clauses brought about a plen-
tiful crop of cases and decisions. We have had two,
if not more, Parliamentary Committees since, and
last year another bill made its appearance in the
House of Commons. Very much to the credit of
our legislators, it never got out of it. Accidents
arose which proved fatal to divers reforms, and the
Bankruptcy Bill perished without regret. Bad as
the Act of 1861 was when it came out of the hands
of Parliament, the Judges have by this time given it
a meaning and it can be worked. The bill of last
year would have provided the legal profession with
a fresh stock of puzzles, in addition to which it is
prorosel to introduce into the Law of Bankruptcy
the novel principle of offering a complete immunity
to insolvents provided a certain proportion of assets
were forthcoming at the time of insolvency. It is
not difficult to foresee what would have been the
consequences in the commercial world had such a
principle been adopted. The Houses of Parliament
were once more told on Tuesday that their attention
would be called to the amendment of the Law of
Bankruptcy, and a rumour has arisen that the Law
Officers of the Crown have taken the bill of last year-1
as the basis of the measure to be introduced this
session. However that may be, the language of the'
Royal Speech gives occasion to a preliminary objec-
tion. We are promised an amendment of the Lavi
of Bankruptcy, or, in other word's, that anew Act
shall be put into the Statute Book as an addition to
the Statutes of Bankruptcy already existing. Another
thicket is to be added to the jungle, and the practi-
tioner will have to find his way through a brake which
the man of commerce will abandon in despair. This
is not what is wanted. The Law of Bankruptcy is
now ripe for codification. Amendments are, no
doubt, needed, but the experience of six years has
revealed the weak points of the law, while the con-
struction put upon the different sections of the ex-
isting statutes by the Judges have removed the
difficulties of ambiguous or contradictory phrases.
If the present law officers have nothing to produce
but an amending bill, we shall have a double satis-
faction at its miscarriage • something pretty nearly
worthless will have perished, and, as things cannot
remain as they are, something really valuable may
be expected in a forthcoming session. The existing
law of bankruptcy is unsatisfactory, but it is not
absolutely intolerable. So much cannot be said of
the law affecting insolvent railway companies. In
fact, there is no law dealing with the case of a rail-
way company unable to meet its engagements. The
ordinary judgment creditor—the holder of a Lloyd's
Bond, for example—may enter if he is quick enough,
and seize upon the movable property of the com-
pany, or may avail himself of such remedies as a
judgment creditor has against its real estate ; but
the decision of the Lords Justices in the London,
Chatham, and Dover case shows that the much more
important class of debenture-holders have nothing
to do when their interest is not paid but to wait for
better times. Hitherto a fresh private Act has been
obtained from the Legislature when railway com-
panies have found themselves insolvent, and Lord
Redesdale has been practically the judge in bank-
ruptcy of railways. Recent experience has unfortu-
nately proved the frequency of insolvency among
railways, and some general legislative dealing with
them is obviously required. The promise to intro-
duce a Bill making better provision for the arrange-
ment of the affairs of insolvent railway companies is
very opportune, but we await the Bill itself with
some anxiety. No more pressing case, certainly, no
more difficult subject also, for legislation exists, and
the only hints towards dealing with it yet thrown
out—those contained in Lord Redesdale's letter to
ourselves—fail to strike us as being just or exhaus-
tive. Ministers may, however, have some surprise
in store for us, and until their proposals are
known it is but fair to suspend our criticism.
The promised consolidation of the Courts of Pro-
bate and Divorce and Admiralty is, we presume,
part of the scheme contemplated when the Divorce
court was first created ; and, although there is no
necessary connection between the two proposals, we
may echo the hope expressed by Mr. Graves that
the opportunity will be considered of establishing
Local Courts of Admiralty. Considering how im-
portant time is in the disposal of shipping cases, it
is somewhat surprising that Local Admiralty Courts
have not before this been called into existence. The
language of the Queen's Speech respecting the busi-
ness in the Common Law Courts at the Assizes is,
to say the least, ambiguous. The means of dispos-
ing of this increasing business with greater despatch
and frequency are to be considered; but whether
the project of creating three more judges is to be
adopted, or the judicial force at Westminster is to
be better distributed is left in doubt. We are quite
sure the House of Commons will not hesitate for a
moment to sanction the small outlay incident upon
the appointment of additional judges, should the
necessity of more judges be proved ; but proof of the
necessity is essential. It is impossible to compare
the economy of the Judicial Bench at Common Law
and in Equity without coming to the conclusion
that there is a great waste of power at Westminster,
and few observers, whether in or out of the profes-
sion, will deny that some risk must be run of lessen-
ing the influence of the bench if the number of the
Judges be unnecessarily increased. We may, how-
ever, be permitted to look upon the whole project
of modifying the Common Law Bench and re-
arranging the Circuits as at present a mere project,
which, like many other proposals in the Royal
Speech, must be canvassed in all its bearings before
it can receive the approval of Parliament.
IIERALD.—EIeven new members of the House of
Commons have been elected during the recess, which
terminated on Monday. Of these eight are supporters
of her Majesty's existing Government, while the
ranks of the Opposition have only been strengthened
by three recruits ; and against two of these returns
petitions will be immediately presented, so that the
pretensions of Mr. De la Poer and Captain
White may be said to be adhuc sub judice. From
this it would appear that the unanimous indigna-
tion of a great people against Tory tricksters and
class legislation, of which we have lately heard so
much, has only found expression in the person of one
solitary representative—to wit, Mr. Jervoise Smith.
The mountain has been in labour for six months,
and the result is a respectable London banker who
has found favour, as a London banker has every
right to expect, in the eyes of the immaculate con-
stituency of Falmouth. It is not to be denied that
the actual result of these appeals to individual con-
stituencies, at least until the decision of their respec-
tive committees on the disputed elections for Tip-
perary and Waterford, is to leave things just as
they were. One seat has been gained, much to Mr.
Bright's chagrin, by the Conservatives in the case
of Brecon, where a local gentleman, Mr. Howel
Gwyn, succeeded in defeating a young nobleman
from a distance, whose only apparent recommenda-
tion was the circumstance that he was brother-in-
law to the late member, the present Marquis Cam-
den. And one seat has been lost, pending the
hearing of a petition in the county of Waterford,
for which Mr. De la Poer has temporarily replaced
the Earl of Tyrone. If Mr. Gladstone's voluntary
exile during the winter is to be attributed less to,
any political design than a very natural preference
of Italian skies to the atmosphere of manhood suf-
frage meetings, he may at least flatter himself that
his homage to /quo IX. has enlisted in the cause of

the Opposition all the spiritual and physical intimi-
dation which is the favourite weapon of the Irish
priesthood. The triumph may, indeed, be short-
lived, but still it seems to redress the balance for the
time ; and the House of Commons has the honour
of numbering among its members a gentleman who
is very indignant at being called a Fenian, as well
as another who, so far from being likely to incur
such a charge, is only a very innocuous specimen of
the ordinary Whigling of the period. We have no
doubt, however, that while the modes by which
Captain White and Mr. De la Poer (this is modern
Irish for Power) secured their seats were equally
lovely, so in their ejection from them they will not be
long divided. In four cases—Pembrokeshire, Car-
narvon, Armagh, and North Salop—there has been
no contest. And in each of these constituencies has
a Conservative been returned. At Belfast the oppo-
sition to the return of Mr. Lanyon was merely
nominal; and in the county of Wexford the only
question for the electors to decide was which of the
two Conservatives was the better, inasmuch as even
under such favourable circumstances no Liberal was
found sufficiently sanguine to solicit their suffrages.
At Guildford Mr. Garth has won the seat previously
occupied by Sir W. Bovill by a fair majority over
his Radical opponent, Mr. Pocock. And at Brecon
and Falmouth, to which we have already alluded,
Mr. Howel Gwynn and Mr. Jervoise Smith have
respectively worsted Lord Alfred Churchill and Mr.
R. N. Fowler. Mr. Bright, whose ostentatious igno-
rance of the geographical situation of some of the
smaller boroughs is not, perhaps, altogether affected,
has naturally been very angry with the men of Bre-
con for selecting on independent local candidate in
preference to a noble lord of whom they knew
nothing beyond his title. But his indignation at
the untoward result of this, the first skirmish in the
autumn's campaign, betrayed him into one of the
most ludicrous blunders which he has ever perpe-
trated before an admiring audience. In denouncing
the aristocratic influences which he always assumes
as being essential to the success of the Constitu-
tional cause, he took up his parable against the
noble houses of Tredegar and Camden, accusing
them, first of all, of the unpardonable sin of having
come over with the Conqueror ; and, secondly, of
the scarcely less heinous offence of not having done
anything of political note since that time. The dis-
tinctively Norman names of Morgan and Pratt,
which happen to belong to the owners of those ob-
noxious coronets, might have undeceived him, bad
he paused for a moment's thought, as to the real
origin of two obviously middle-class families. And
his memory, if he ever remembered anything except
his own past achievements, might have served to re-
call the Sir Charles Morgan whose peerage is only
seven years old, as well as the eminent Liberal law-
yer who in the last century founded the house of
Camden. I t has always been alleged against the
Bourbons that they learned nothing and forgot
nothing. But the Rochdale autocrat has adopted
even a more sublimely Royal motto, as he learns
nothing and remembers nothing, with the excep-
tion, of course, which we have just indicated.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

GAINSBOROUGH—TUESDAY.
At our market to-day there was a moderate show of
wheat, which met a fair sale, At is to 2s less money—old 9
white, 66s to 68s; red and mixed, 62s to 65s per 36 stone.
Malting barley rather lower in price. Oats and all other
articles sold at former rates.