The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON. FRWAY EVENLN6I', NOVEMBER 29, 1867

",6411N."--LATEST EDITION.-
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e
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HIGli WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 36. 40m. Afternoon, 3b. 55m.
To-Moßaow.-Morning, 4h. 10m.1 Afternoon, 4h. 28m.

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Investigate charges. The Lancet Commission has
already done good service in the cause of the help-
less sufferers in the workhouse sick wards. Lord
DEVON went over the whole subject very fairly and
comprehensively. He began by informing the
House that there were no less than 663 unions in
England and Wales, including the metropolis. These
unions, with the exception of those in the metro-
polis, are divided into eleven inspectorial districts,
each placed under the management of one inspector
connected with the Poor-law Board. In each of
the workhouses of these districts there is an infir-
mary, more or less adequate to the wants of the
district. But we must remember, as Lord DEVON
reminded the committee, that the infirmaries of
workhouses were originally intended only for the
accommodation of those cases of illness which
arose within the house itself ; and it must
therefore be evident to the most casual observer that
they must be miserably unequal to the needs of the
whole of the sick poor of the neighbourhood. With
increase of population has come, as a natural conse-
quence, increase of pauperism and increase of sick-
ness, yet the old building is left to supply the wants
of hundreds when it was originally intended for
twenties or fifties. The poor are often victims to
long, lingering illness, rheumatism, consumption,
asthma, and diseases of the internal organs pro-
duced by excessive and protracted labour. The
natural and, indeed, compulsory resource for
such sufferers is the wards of the infirmary, and
nsgate, in spite of all its discomforts
there they um,;:._
and mismanagement,
biinply because they have no
other resource. Many of the cases in our work-
house wards are such as the best medi,.:2l authorities
would readily admit into permanent hospiLid if

they had the power, and would, if they were
sufferers in another rank of life, order them to be
supplied with every luxury that could alleviate
their distress. What their fate is in the crowded
wards of a country poorhouse we have some
knowledge of from the evidence at Farnham, and
although that may possibly have been an
extreme case, yet the whole system is
harsh, neglectful, and indifferent to this mass
of human suffering. Those best acquainted
with such matters have drawn moving pictures of
the patient dismissed as incurable from one of our
large hospitals, and thence removed to the neigh-
bouring infirmary. The sudden change from good
and delicate food carefully- cooked, wines and
cordials, soft and well-filled beds, and, above all,
kind and attentive nursing, to the rough and ready
treatment of the sick pauper in the infirmary ward,
is a most painful transition ; and when the sufferer
knows he has no other prospect but to linger out
the rest of his days in these dreary circumstances
the desolation is great indeed. The sower we
all acknowledge the fact which is patent to
every one familiar with these establishments
the better. Our workhouses are no longer the
receptacles of thriftless and worthless idlers, whose
own vices or indolence have brought them to
beggary, and who are glad to live at the expense of
other people. They include such, no doubt, but
they form a very small proportion of the inmates.
The intelligent and humane master of one of our
large London unions, consisting of five or six
hundred inmates, once stated that he had leas than
one hundred able-bodied under his charge, and in
summer time there wore barely enough to attend
upon the sick and do the necessary work of the
house. There is no prospect of any change
in the requirements of the pauper population.
Pauperism itself may fluctuate with the prosperity
or depression of trade, bat we cannot hope that the
numbers of our sick poor will perceptibly diminish.
The disabLd mechanic, the crippled artisan, the
superannuated laundress or charwoman, the broken-
down servant, the decrepil old man or woman who
are past work, the blind, the paralysed, the epilep-
tic, the imbecile, must still be found among us.
Aye, even the friendless clerk or governess are
sometimes driven to the shelter afforded
by public charity. We must acknowledge
the truth and act upon it. It is useless shutting
our eyes. If the present arrangements are
inefficient or inadequate, let us make others. If
the burden of the votes presses unjustly on the
poorer ratepayers, let us adjust the weight more
fairly; but it is useless to shrink from touching
the evil on account of its magnitude. Lord Cam-
NARVON is alarmed at the prospect of a change, and
very apprehensive of the increase of pauperism.
"He confessed that he watched with jealousy the
creation of new establishments, or the enlargement
of those existing." But what would he have us
do ? Are these sick persons to die of starvation
in the streets, or are they to be huddled
together uncared for and untended, like
the slaves Oki the middle passage ? The
fact is that our poor law-system has been a dis-
grace to us for the last century. Its excessive
laxity and want of management fostered pauperism
to such an extent that it roused public indignation,
and then it rebounded to the opposite extreme.
No one wishes to encourage able-bodied pauperism,
and that is the very reason why it is proposed to
classify the inmates of our unions and to put the
sick and infirm under a different system. There
can be no question that the local authorities have
been very greatly at fault in many instances,
and Lord DEVON last night cited cases which had
came under his own notice, in which the visiting
committees had neglected their duties of inspection,
and the guardians refused to entertain most neces-
sary improvements proposed by the inspector. The
Poor-law Board, however remiss in some respects,
is actually deficient in power to deal with such cases
except by a cumbrous and tedious legal process.
The best thing that can be done without revolu-
tionising the whole system is to strengthen the hands
of the central authority, and trust to Parliament to
keep the central authority in check.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Thursday Evening.

Some important explanations in regard to foreign
policy were given yesterday in the Legislative Body
by M. Rouher, Minister of State, in answer to a
complaint from M. Pelletan that the yellow book
did not contain some despatches which had been
exchanged between France and Italy. M. Rouher
said that, according to the usual rule, it was not
customary to publish despatches emanating from a
foreign Government until those despatches had
been communicated officially and by an ambassador
in his official capacity, so that they might form the
elements of discussion between the Governments.
If they had been received either from M. Rattazzi,
or from General Menabrea, or from the Represen-
tative of Italy in France, the Chevalier Nigro,
despatches officially communicated, they would
appear in the yellow book—they would be submit-
ted to you, and you would have the right to appre-
ciate them, because they would have become a
contradictory element of a discussion between the
two Governments. No communication of the kind
has been made. We have not received officially a
despatch either from M. Rattazzi or his successors,
or from the Representative of Italy at the French
Court. For myself, at least I have no knowledge
of any communication of the kind. Should my
memory net serve me rightly, I am ready to pro-
pose to the Minister of Foreign Affairs that he shall
fill up any omission which may be pointed out. I
assert that all the useful elements of the discussion
which is to take place upon the Roman question
have been furnished by the yellow book, and that

at present I have not a more perfect communication
to make to the Chamber. (Approbation upon
several benches.)
M. Glaiz Bizoin The answer is strange
in the extreme. It is impossible to believe
that there has not been any communication between
the two Governments. This is, perhaps, the first
time in Parliamentary annals that such a declara-
tion has ever been made by a Minister. (Noise,
and manifestations of difference of opinion.)
It should be understood, in reference to this de-
claration, that DI. Pelletan asserts, or imagines, that
the French Government is in possession of important
despatches from DI. Rattazzi and Cardinal Anto-
nelli, and that M. Rouher, the Minister, is ignorant
of the fact.

D.I. Pelletan then said it was impossible to sup-
pose that during the long period of eight months
M. Rattazzi had preserved absolute silence. Such
an improbability astonished him, and would astonish
the country. He believed that when the Minister
had made further inquiry, he would find that the
Government must have received despatches from
Florence or Rome.
M. Rouher said he believed that when he had
consulted his colleague, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, he shoald only have the same answer to
give. (Very good.)
_ _

A letter from Rome states that the soldiers of the
Pontifical army who were made prisoners by the
Garibaldians during the first affair of Monte Ro
tondo, and who had been brought to Spezzia on
board a steamer through the kindness of Monsigneur
Mathieu, Cardinal Archbishop of Besancon, were
received by the population of Rome with striking
manifestations of cordiality and sympathy. The
Roman nobility entertained them at a splendid
banquet.

The King and Queen of Greece have arrived at
Corfu. The foreign ships of war in the Pirasus pre-
pared a brilliant reception for their Majesties.
A private telegram from Bucharest states that
the main Ministry is reconstructed thus :—M.
Golesco, Presdent of the Council; M. Bratiano,
..'
Minister of the Inteior ; M. Anion, Justice ; M.
Adrian, Minister of War.
The great Exhibition, which had such a marked
influence in many respects, caused a great increase
of correspondence. During the seven months
while the Exhibition was open the increase in the
sale of postage stamps exceeded a million of francs.
In 1865, during the seven corresponding months,
the consumption of stamps amounted to 34,200,000 f.
In the :same period, in 1866, the amount was
35,800,000 f., being an increase of 1,600,000 f. in
favour of 1866. In 1867, during the Exhibition,
the amount paid for postage stamps was 38,500,000 f.
This forms a total of 2,700,000 f., which deduction
being made of the ordinary progress, which is juA
stated was 1,600,000 f. for the corresponding period
of 1866, constitutes in favour of 1867 an increase
of more than 1,100,000 f. This amount, reckon-
ing the average postage rate, shows that about
2,500,000 letters were circulated in consequence of
the Exhibition.
The sun rose this morning with as much bril-
liancy as was ever seen, hut an hour afterwards
came a dense fog, which prevailed all day. The
fog was so thick that you could not see from one
side of the Seine to the other, although that river
at Paris is not broader than the Thames at Rich-
mond. The fields were covered with frost this
morning. In some parts of France the thermo-
meter has been several degrees below freezing
point. The supposed indications of severe weather
increase in the provinces. Such large numbers of
wolves have never been seen, and many sea fowl
have been noticed at a long distance from the sea.
The Piedmontese Gazette says that the Pope is
ill, though it is &sired to conceal the fact. The
foreign diplomatists go every morning to the Vati-
can to inquire after the health of his Holiness. The
last answer given was his Highness reposes and
keeps to his apartment. The Pope's favourite ser-
vant has just died, and his Holiness is inconsolable.
The excitement about the high price of bread
is diminishing, in consequence of the information
received from many parts of France that there is a
sensible decline in the price of corn. An immense
quantity of wheat has been imported at Marseilles,
and further arrivals are expected.

All that seems doubtful now about the Confer-
ence is as to where it will assemble. A Berlin letter
says that a southern city will be fixed upon, in
order that the diplomatists may have an agreeable
residence during the rigorous season when the deli-
berations will take place.
A strange story is related about a husband and
wife, which has an air of romance, although it is
substantially true. A gentleman received informa-
tion that his wife allowed the visits of a well-known
therefore, watched
Hi proved too true,
the actord odour roi
of
gh hiss i shouseabse.n c
sn df
ehaer,s
for he saw the actor go up stairs. The gentleman
soon followed and knocked at the door of the apart-
ment. It not being cpened he called the porter and
a demand was made to open the door iu the name
of the law. The room was in great confusion, but
no visitor was seen. In a few minutes, however,
pierziug cries were heard from the window under-
neath. It appears that some sheets had been hastily
tied together, and the actor had let himself down
from the window, but they were not long enough
to reach the ground and the intruder was afraid of
being dashed to pieces, and therefore called for
help. Strange to say, it was the husband who ran
to give it, and he enabled the destroyer of his peace
to reach the ground in safety. Then, however, a
scene took
crowd. The actor was taken to the
soon brought
station. The next step in the affair will be a prc-
cess on the part of the husband for a legal separa-
tion from his wife.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

LIVERPOOL, NOV. 29 (Noma).

Shortly after G o'clock this morning a Greek
blockade runner, called the Boyboyania, which was
lying in the Mersey to take in powder, blew up.
One portion of the vessel remained at anchor, and
the other part, the stern, drifted away. Forty lives
are supposed to have been lost.

CALCUTTA AND CHINA (HEAVY) MAILS.
The following telegram has been received by the
Peninstflar and Oriental Steam Navigation Com-

parry : --

46 GIBRALTAR, Nov. 28.

" The Sumatra leaves at 1 p.m. to-day. She
may be expected at Southampton early on the 3d
December."