The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-24 00:00:00

TIIE SUN_ LONDON, THURSOAY EVENING, OCTOBER 24, 1867,

the substance of the Ministerial proposals, and their
common sense and practical nature commended
themselves not only to the independent Liberals in
Parliament, but to the great body of the public out
of doors, and it was their responsive approval which
insured the eventual passing of the bill. Mr.
M'LAREN, as we have seen, was not very friendly
to it on its first introduction, but he had the good
tense to consider in what way it might be improved,
instead of making its errors or its shortcomings
an excuse for a mere party triumph. Mr.
M'LAREN, in referring to the objections that
were raised by several members on his own side of
the House to the course adopted by the Govern-
ment, ♦ery sensibly said he thought it was, on the
whole, the most favourable to the cause of Reform,
and that he was not sent to Parliament to watch
over the dignity of any Government. Mr. M'LAREN
was a zealous member of the Tea-room party, and
looks back with some satisfaction upon its pro-
ceedings. Had Mr. COLERIDGE'S famous Instruc-
tion been successful, and had Lord DERBY in
consequence appealed to the country, Mr.
M'LAREN thought it most probable that he would
have failed in obtaining a majority, and would have
been defeated early in the next session. It is quite
evident that if such had been the case the progress
of Reform must have been considerably retarded ;
and the member for Edinburgh does not scruple to
remind his hearers that the Whig Reform Bill of
1860 was talked out of existence by its own
friends, and then quietly buried. Remembering
this, he, for his own part, was unwilling to assist
in any attempt to throw out a bill which ho
thought might fairly serve as a basis for
legislation, and he felt that to substitute
a rating franchise for household suffrage
would be to reject the measure in tote. The strong
manifestations made by the working classes through-
out the country on the subject of Reform had also
weight with many members. But though Mr.
M'LAREN, like Mr. CoLERIDGE, attributes the suc-
cess of the Bill exclusively to the strength of the
popular feeling, it is only fair to remember that if
the outlines of the measure had not commended
themselves to the wishes and feelings of the public
there would have been no satisfaction at its intro-
duction. The bill of 1866 did not, it was felt,
deal comprehensively with the question. The
time had gone by for temporising and halfhearted
measures. It might have answered the purpose in
1860, but as years went by with the popular wants
disregarded they became like the demands of the
Sybil to the Roman, more urgent and more exact-
ing. Whatever defects time may prove the bill of
1867 to possess, it has at any rate in its broad prin-
ciples met the public requirements in no niggardly
spirit, and it is this that has secured its acceptance
by the working classes as well as by those above
them. It has conceded a large measure of influence
to those who had long chafed under unjust and un-
necessary exclusion, and while there are not want-
ing alarmists who foretell direful consequences from
the " leap in the dark," there are many who sin-
cerely believe that the votes of the new electors
will serve rather to readjust the political balance
than to disturb it still further. We have of late
years listened too much to the prevailing counsels
of the moneyed classes, and if our artisans
and our mechanics can counteract in some
degree the tendency to a material and selfish policy,
which is plainly perceptible in more than one direc-
tion, their influence will be directly beneficial.
Mr. M'LAREN fairly enough bespeaks for them a
large measure of indulgence in their first political
experiments. Have not the upper classes, he asks,
made their share of mistakes? Have they not
sent men to Parliament who had better
have stayed out, to say nothing of the scores
of dummies who never open their mouths. The
rest of his address was in the same tone, and was
listened to throughout with attention, the audience
frequently expressing their approval of the general
policy and conduct of their member—approval
which, on the whole, the Liberal party will confirm.

It will take some time yet before the news from
Italy ceases to attain immediate attention and
notice. It is true, that all fear of serious compli-
cations arising have been dispelled, but the under-
currents that prevail aro still most fluctuating and
uncertain. No one can settle down all at once after
such a bouleversement as that which has taken
place, and it will be a great mistake if people
think that no consequences will ensue from
the exciting events that have just taken place. The
most decisive victories are sometimes the most blood-
less ones, and in all probability the Emperor NAPO-
LEON now feels as if his position was more secure
than it was a fortnight ago—at any rate his pres-
tige is more certain now, and there will be no like-
lihood of his influence being set so much at nought
as Count BISMARCK would have it believed. On
the other hand, GARIBALDI and his friends, in trying
to show their strength, have exhibited their weak-
ness in a remarkable degree, and by their ill-timed
and precipitate conduct have materially hindered
the accomplishment of their purpose, besides cover-
ing themselves with confusion, and involving their
country in loss and mortification. The best means
for a nation to adopt, if it would avoid foreign in-
tervention, is to take care that no indiscretion is
committed, and no violent changes inaugurated. The
contrary of this rule has, we know, been adopted by
the enthusiastic but mistaken men who have just Pet
Italy in commotion, and they must reap the conse-
quences of their hazardous venture. Unhappily, as
often occurs in this world, they will not suffer alone.
The best thing that can now be done will be for all
the parties most interested in the matter to mend
their ways for the future, and for the leading spirits
of the affair to judge carefully if some better
plan cannot be devised to secure the welfare of Italy
and to maintain peace. For the present, however,
we must be satisfied with peace being preserved, and
that blessing is so much to be desired that many
considerations give way before it. In the actual
state of things just now a general war on the Con-
tinent would be greatly to be deplored, and it
would be difficult to say when the contest might
terminate.

THE OXFORD.—The favourite selection from
Offenbach's brilliant operetta, " Orphee aux Enters," will
be revived on Saturday, with Miss Russell, Miss Fitz-
henry (her first appearance since her late indisposition),
and Mr. Green, in their original parts. Mr. Green's
"shriek" of delight in the well-known "couplet" will be
welcome again, and a great musical treat may be anticipated
from the revival, after the well-deserved run of popularity
achieved by the "Herculaneum" selection. We bear also
that that most versatile of all the nigger family, Mr. E. W.
Mackney, will very shortly make his re-appearance before
the Oxford audiences.

MURDEROUS ATTACK UPON A WOJIAN.—On
Tuesday a magistrate at Bradford went to take the deposi-
tion of one Harriet Slater, who lies in a precarious condi-
tion, in consequence of a murderous attack made upon her
at midnight on Saturday, by a married man, named Levi
Farrar, who had cohabited with her for some time. Ho
knocked her down and kicked her on the head and face so
violently that both are covered with wounds, and swollen
so as to render identity impossible. She said—l am a beer-
house keeper in George-street, Bradford. The prisoner,
Levi Farrar, has been living with me for about 18 months.
I have told him many times lately that I wanted him to
go. He said he would not go, and that if he must not stop
no man else should. Ho has sworn many times that ho
would be the death of me if I forced him away. On Satur-
day night last I told him to go. He said he would not. He
went up stairs, partly undressed himself, came down,
locked the door, knocked me down, and kicked me till I was
insensible, and caused the injuries lam AM suffering.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

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

Calm reigns again in the political world of
Paris, the Italian difficulty being considered as
settled after the announcement in the Moniteur, for
which I prepared your readers that in consequence
of the wise policy upon which the Italian Cabinet
had resolved it would not be necessary to send
another expedition to Rome to support the Pope.
Paris has put on its holiday aspect to-day, and
half the population went to the station of the
Eastern Railway to see the Emperor of Austria
and his brother's party. They arrived at the time
appointed, and the Emperor went to.the station to
meet them. The procession, which was upon the
same scale as that which did honour to the Emperor
of Russia, proceeded across the Boulevard de Stras-
bourg, along the Boulevards to the Madeleine, from
thence up the Rue Royale, the avenue des Champs
Elysees, to the Palace de l'Elysce. Vast numbers
of persons assembled on, all the line, and cheers
greeted the Emperor everywhere.
In addition to the fetes which I have mentioned
in honour of the Emperor of Austria there is to be
a grand review of the Imperial Guard and the First
Corps d'Armee in the Bois de Boulogne on Friday.
The anniversary of the birth of the Prince Royal
of Prussia was celebrated with much pomp and
marks of rejoicing on Friday last at Baden, where
the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden, the
Duke of Hesse Darmstadt and his wife the Princess
Alice of England, went to meet the King and Queen
of Prussia.

The arrangement concluded between Bavaria,
Wurtemberg, the Grand Duchy of Baden, and
Hesse on the sth of February last, at Stuttgard,
stipulated that a military conference, composed of
plenipotentiaries for the four States, should as-
semble at Munich in the following autumn, in order
to complete the task which was proposed. In con-
sequence the Bavarian Government has just in-
vited the military representatives of the Southern
States to assemble at Munich.
No official account of the exact composition of
the new Italian Ministry has been received in Paris,
but I know from indubitable authority that the
countermand of the order for the sailing of the
expedition for Italy was only given upon the ex-
press assurance that the Italian Government would
take care that no attempt upon the temporal power
should be allowed.

Another sudden change in the weather, and not an
agreeable one. It has been dull, cold, and gloomy
to-day. The fog was very dense soon after sun-
rise. In the Upper Alps the cold recently caused
much mischief. Last week the snow fell in large
quantities, and a local paper says that so much snow
was never seen there at so early a period of the
winter in the memory of man. The sheep and oxen
in the mountains died in large numbers, and a shep-
herd was found dead buried is the snow. In loca-
lities where the grapes had nct been gathered they
have all been destroyed by the frost. Another pre-
sage of severe winter is derived from the appearance
of vast numbers of wild boats at a distance of only
about 20 miles from Paris.

The despatches and privets accounts from Rome
are silent about Garibaldi. He has, I believe,
escaped from Caprera, but ais whereabouts is not
known. Indeed, as I said some days ago, his
" game is up," and now few 'know where he is, and
none care about either his cestinaticn or his pro.•
jects. His last escapade was more foolish than his
senseless and miserable display at Aspromonte.
The following remarks of the Constitutionnel
upon the happy solution of the Italian difficulty
must excite sympathy and attention :—" Victor
Emmanuel, so profoundly levoted to the cause
which he represents, and the destinies of which have
become more glorious at the same time as those of
the Italian people, has understood that it was no
less necessary for the honour than the interest of
Italy to resist revolutionary passions. It was neces-
sary to prove to Europe and to the whole world
that.the Italian Government, in spite of the diffi-
culties inherent to the formation of a now monarchy,
had enough strength and power to cause interna-
tional conventions to be respected, and to maintain
order at home.

"King Victor Emmanuel has once more justified
the confidence which his people placed in him, and
has proved that, as a liberal Sovereign and a tried
patriot, he will not allow legitimate power to be
humiliated in his hands. It is to be regretted that
the Ministry did not appreciate with the same im-
portance the degree and the imminence of the peril
which threatened Italy in one of the most difficult
phases of its laborious transformation. Al. Rattazai
allowed the opportunity to escape of becoming a
great Minister."
November has usually been considered as the
orthodox season for sub/ides in England. In Paris
it seems to commence in October, for within about
a fortnight there have been at least ten suicides here
by drowning, and various other modes. The mania
is just now a prominent subject of observation with
the Paris papers, one of which relates as an authentic
anecdote that La Fontaine, Moliere, Chapelle, and
Racine, after a joyous supper at Auteuil, had made
up their minds to drown themselves in the Seine.
They were, however, accidentally met at Passy by
Boileau, who with some difficulty persuaded them to
renounce their foolish intention. Mad they mu.st
have been if they had fulilled their purpose, for
truly and literally he who is found drowned in the
Paris river is in Seine (inane).

JAMAICA COTTON CO3IPANY (LIMITED).

TO THE EDITOR OF TRE SUN.

Sin,—With respect to this company—respectiug
which I inquired in your journal early during the
present year—l have received from Mr. Bourne,
the secretary, a balance-shaet to the 30th June last,
together with a printed statement of the present
position of the company.
It appears by a letter, dated 7th August, 1867,
an application for compensation on account of the
riots " has been carefully considered," " and is re-
corded" in the Government office.

The capital, £20,000, has been called up and
paid, except about £100; and at the general
meeting, which will take place on the 24th inst., a
plan will be submitted for the gradual improvement
of the property. The secretary, at the offices of the
company, No. 55, Charing-cross, is willing to give
any information in his power.—l am, Sir, yours
obediently, CHB. CooKE.
Loudon, Oct. 22, 1867.

ADMISSION of ATTORNETB.—Tho number of ori-
ginal applications to be admitted next term is 91, and there
are several applications for readmission, kc:
LONDON WATER SUPPLY.—Great interest exists
as to the probable nature of the report which is to
be issued by Her Majesty's Commission, of which the
Duke of Richmond is chairman, and Sir John Thwaitos,
Sir B. Phillips, and Mr. Harrison aro members. Those
interested in the existing water companion, it is said, have
received an intimation that the Commission will report in
fa lour of the Thames source for the future supply of
London; but if this is really so, why cannot the purport
of tho report be communicated to the authorities, so that
it may bo known that no distant source will bo recom-
mended, and therefore that the question may be considered
as practically settled? The evijenco of some of the first
engineers of the day;it is believed, was obtained upon the
subject, among whom, it may be mentioned, Messrs.
Ilawksly, Beardmore, Fulton, Mylno, Bateman, Bazalgetto,
and others. A majority of these engineers, it is believed,
recommended a more distant, a purer, and a softer source
than the present, but the influence of the existing water
companies, it is sail, is such that there is but little chance
of any such measure being carried out.
LOSSES AT SEA.—The Statistical Committee of
Lloyd's have issued a table showing the number of wrecks
and casualties for the half-year ending Juno 30. The
number of casualties to chips was 5,525, to steamers 500.
The number of ships missing was 64, of steamers 7. Total
number of ships abandoned 228, steamers 5. Of these, 190
were totally lost. The number of collisions to ships is
808, to steamers 117; total 955. Of these 85 were sunk.
The number of vessels sinking from causes other than
collision was 281. The number of ships stranded was
1,483, of steamers 126. There were three cases of piracy.
The number of vessels burnt or on fire was 65 ships and
five steamers. The number of eases of mutiny, sickness,
casualties to crew, and refusing to do duty was 201. There
were 11 ships waterlogged. Totally lost, 1,072 ships and
37 steamers. 503 crews of ships were saved, and 17 crews
of steamers. The number of crews drowned was 29, and
the number of lives lest, as far as reported, 6871