The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-04 00:00:00

TIIE REFUGEE QUESTION.

srui eAint ue
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ei signing
ls
arefveerreyneaebltee arti
cle
eentsotitthue-
tional and legal aspects of the refugee question.
With regard to the demands made on us by the
French Government, to alter our laws for their
special benefit, the writer of the communication
expresses himself as follows :
" Of course, sir, I cannot supply you either from the
o r a methodsnt ici poaft iPnugi 1 ai Chtisnwg hcircihm
he sa
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no roet tyheety
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statute-book or the fountains of the common law with
such methods are strangers to our law in all its depart-
ments, and please God, shall long remain so.. I do not
expect that Lord Palmerston is about to lay before Par-
liament a leis des suspects. If he did I should not ask
for a place in your columns to state an ergutnent
against it, for before such a proposition could even be
entertained the Tinier must have ceased to exist. But
it will be said, why not pa,s an act to satisfy public
opinion in France and to gratify a friendly Government?
In the first place, I do not think it is a very desirable
thing that the English criminal law should be moulded
to meet the temporary excitement and clamour of
foreign nations, This would be a valid objection,
even if the demand had been preferred in the mast
delicate and reasonable manner. But it seems to
me, that in existing circumstances, unless we are ;under
some clear moral obligation to malts provision for a
proved wrong, we are not in a position to indulge in
b
mere complimentary legislation. It would indeed be
us to notice the inveterate swagger of the
French soldiery, who seem to think that they can
trample on the liberties of England with the same faci-
lity as those of their own nation. Tim serious featu"
of the transacq, n is the 1 übiication of these speeches in
the Moniteur. It is thus which converts this silly
bravado of military swashbucklers into public
tionstnule
t
and a national menace. Now, sir, it seems
circum-
stances is very much the same as for an individual.
If your neighbour asks you in a quiet, reasonable,
that the proper course for a nation in such
gentlemanlike manner to oblige him, you may o
more for him than is necessary or even prudent ; but if
French
Government. he comes to demand of you a thing vehic'a you are neither
morally nor legally bound to do, with insulting words
2;Bmoufst
and menacing gestures, and threatens to kick you if you
do not comply—if you are a man of ordinary spirit or
common firmness, you coolly tell him to eeek his remedy.
Until the insults in the Moniteur are retracted as pub.
licly as they have been offered, it seems to me that this
thebe i 0
Government. If they are to come as suitors to the bar
can be heard, purge their contempt."
is
sf
thever very
High much
Court oar
o f positron Parliament,
they e
These are noble as well as legally sound
senti-
ments. We commend tliellltO the special attention
of Lord Fob:4o4on,

PROSTITUTION IN THE METROPoLIS.

The followiN 1%,,tt,.1: has lx.len acidtelqd to th
editor of the Tunes :

Sir,—Cert peri:i.ms have, as you kaow, com-
menced a crusade a2:ainst London prostitutes, and,
if one of that abandoned ssterliood may presume
to address you, grant me your attention.
The precept and example set me by parents, now,
thank God, in their graves; the education likewise
" thrown away" upon me, and my subsequent ex-
perience as a governess in a highly respectable
family, were not necessary ito the conviction that
the class among which I may be numbered con-
sists of outcasts whose undisguised pursuit is an
offence to the laws of God and man.
I know that we are cut off from the moral, social,
and religious worlds. lam conscious that there is
nothing iu common between us and other women
but sheer mortality. lam aware that we are beings
whom men should shun and women must c,.ndenin.
We need not be told of our ruin and degradation,
because we never " fall" without being alive to the
fact. A woman seduced may forgive her wrongs
and outlive her sense and shame. Her conscience
may harden and her very memory may sleep, but
she never need be reminded of her real condition.

It is impossible for her to forget what she is ; society
will not permit her to do so. lam speaking row of
lost mortals like myself, and not of those whose sin-
ful life Fortune seems to gild. Do not suppose, then,
that I would attempt to defend what transpires
nightly in the Haymarket, in Coventry-street, or
wherever women of nay caste congregate. I do not,
ask you to countenance anything of the kind. No,
Sir, give " Vice its own image," and do your duty
But, you yourself refrain from going a step too
far, pray give a warning word to others. It is one
thing to put down. a nuisance ; it is another to per-
ecute individuals. I will anticipate much that
may fairly be said, and admit that if I live avowedly
in defiance of those regulati,ms which the com
triunity has established as indispensable to its well
being —(" I waive the quantum o' the sin,"
the body's pollution, and the soul's perdition ; that
is my private business, and God help me ! mine
alone, I hope)—if I parade my iniquitous trade so
as to commit a public outrage, I must expect to be
checked in such openly vicious courses, for I believe
the liberty of the subject should end whore injury
to others begins. But pray tell those good gentle-
men who are bent upon " putting us down," that
their's is not only a delicate, but a difficult under-
taking, and they should be careful lest they have
more to answer for than they dream of in their philo-
sophy. One Horace,—au authority whom you
gentlemen quote,—has said, I believe,—

" Let the wise man be considered a fool, and the just
man as unjust, if his rigorous adherence even to virtue
herself carries him beyond the proper bounds."
I hope these wortPy gentlemen are not attempting
to cure an evil by driving it in wards. There is a
scandalous eyesore and annoyance existing; remove
it ! But if those excellent men imagine that by
clearing the thoroughfares of professed wri.tches
like me they will advance one step in the cause
of virtue they are gravely mistaken. Wives and
daughters and sisters should be spared disgusting
scenes of all kinds, and fathers and sons and bro-
thers should be tempted as little as possible. I
can yet admit that I But London is, for it size,
the most moral town in Europe—perhaps the civi-
lised world—and I once had a friend who could
prove it. Leaving continental cities, with all their
recognised and even legalised enormities, out of the
question—go, for example, to the quiet, orderly,
religious, and apparently sleeping village of Dol-
golly, in North Wales, "where a seraph might
dwell," and where you find all serene, and
the number of bastard children on the parish books
will astound you. The vice of Loudon, sir, is Bien
to float on its surface ; let it pass as the weed on its
way to the ocean. If it accumulate so as to become
offensive, disperse it. If it otherwise annoy and
cannot convenieetly be avoided, deal with it as-
cordingly. But have we not our uses ? 1 believe
and hope that I am a warning to every woman I
meet. I fancy, too, that even men sometimes pause
in their worst designs when they look upon me, or

feel a pang should-those designs have been accom-
plished. Do you think that when I have laughed
boldly (as we never do when sober) in the face of a
virtuous girl, and as much as to say, "See what
one of our sex can come to 1" my maniac conduct
has not whispered "Thank God, and take heed ?"
I have seen the half-starved milliner and humble
orange-girl hurry past me with a shudder, and
the poor servant, snatching a moment to gaze
about her, go to her work rejoicing that "she
has not come to that !" And then your sex. Hea-
ven grant me patience that I may content myself
with observing that no good man ever noticed me in
:he street, save with pity, indifference, or con-
tempt ; and there is no seclusion which the vicious
will not penetrate. As for temptation, iu which
shape is it the more dangerous, that of a notorious
street-walker, or a modest maiden going on an
errand ? However numerous be the Maria Mil-
moods, depend upon it George Barnwells are scarce.
Do you think I could not make myself understood
without shocking the looker-on, or openly display-
ing my purpose ? Can I not even add to my
"snares" and "attractions" by disguising myself
as a domestic, a young Quakeresi, a dressmaker, or
even lady—aye, and acting the part too ? My
reason for not resorting to those stratagems is there
is no necessity for so doing. Yet you, of course,
but little know how many of us appear in those
characters, and without exciting the slightest sus-
picion among the public in general. I know a de-
signing and disreputable girl who has been passing
herself off for a long time upon a city banker as a
parson's wife ; and another who pretends to have
her "Sunday out," that she may walk abroad with
a gentleman of Somerset-house; and serve them
right I Then there are unfortunates who live in

style ; some appear in carriages, some on foot.
Your sex may know them, but mine mistake them
for decent women (I am still alluding to the profes-
sional courtezan). These are the pitfalls for the
males of good families. But in respect to the more

common of my class—not by any means no worst
—now under censure, pr ay Fay a word in time, and

before she be committedto the tender mercies of
the police. Ho is not the man to " take her up
tenderly." Consider, sir, she is "me of Eve's
family," as your mother was, and as your wife and
daughter are I—aye, and as even your Queen is.
She has no other claim to your forbearance.

"Alas for the rarity
" Of Christian Charity
"Under the sun !
" Oh, it is pitiful,
" Near a whole city full,
" Home has sho none."

Appoint commissioners who are fitted for the
ofhpe, intelligent, respectable, and ! responsible
gefitlemen, and make it worth their while to devote
themselves entirely to the reduction of the scandal
complained of. Empower these officials to have us
taken up and punished for riot or impropriety of
any kind. But let not the "pelting petty officer,"
the ignorant officer of a few shillings a-week, and
it may be an unfeeling and unthinking brute, inter-
fere with us as he will. Recollect it was man who
made us what we are. It is man who pays for the
finery, the rouge, and the gin. It is for man that
we are yet as, as well as what, we are. It is max
who, when we apply ourselves to industry and
honesty, employs us upon starving wages ; and if
man had his way, and woman's nature not superior
to his, there would be no virtue extant. Say, then,
is it for man to persecute even the most profligate
among ns ? What is he better than the worst of us ?
In the next place, why begin with the most ab-
ject and unprotected ? Why (as you threaten to
do) pounce upon, not only the most conspicuous
brawler, but the thinly-clad and silent " lost
one" walking the streets like a trespasser, even
when the weather would make one hesitate to
turn a dog out into it ? Why should the virtuous
indignation of the present day be all expended upon
—if I may bo allowed so to mention her—the
poor cteature without a friend, while her more foe-
tunate sister, whom I will call harlot, stares im-
pudently from out her luxurious brougham, throw-
ing more discredit upon what I understand as our
"social system" than it suffers from a score of le,s
pampered strumpets? I do not allude to the un-
obtrusive victim, "hiding her diminished head"
behind silk curtains, nor even the more "ex-
perienced," making "the best of a bad bargain."
(As to the latter it is wonderful what dragons of
virtue " notorious women" among them become at
maturity !) But Ido say, sir, that the community
more than tolerates those who find fools to set them
up where good women should be, while it sets its
face against oqier3 who are only poorer, and less
lucky, to say nothing of the honesty that is to be
found even among the lowest.
Pray, sir, think of this, and tell those gentlemen
whose speeches I read to act upon it.
be husbands and father s (~e -They may
e -n t
who visit us), and I can a(lrlocll%ri any of all degrees
Christians they will
for their parental
solicitude. But if they be
imitate one who sail, Go hand sin no more " and
not " move on," 4
ny w ere, anywhere out of the
world." Your humble servant
ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE.
P.S. I cannot give you my name, having so dis•
graced it, nor my address, as it is disreputable.

MARTIAL BAKERS.—" The entry of Prince Frederick
William of Prussia with his bride into Berlin," says a
letter from that city, " has raised several discussions
among the different trading corporations of the capit.d.
The bakers, among others, have claimed the right to
wear swords, which the magistrate disputed. The per-
son's interested having addressed a petition on the sub-
ject to the Prince of Prussia, the head of the Govern-
ment, his Royal Highness wrote on the margin : The
bakers may wear swords, or even carry cannon if they
wish it,' ",

Tales.

LIITRATURE.

The to ck ), s. Charlo,9 Dickens. 2 vols,
Chapaiat4 and Ll4ll, and Bradbury and Evans.
It is with greaf, sltisfae,t'on that we se) a new
and complete library edition of Mr. Dickens' works
is now a,,out to b) offered t.t the public. The
former edition was necessarily incomplete, as it was :
publishe I some years since, and it could not come
pare to the present, whose size and type leave...,
nothing to be desired. The series is worthily -
inaugurated under the auspices of the immortal
Kr. Pickwick, and will, of course, embrace the
whole of those delightful fictions that have moved 4,
the tears or provoked the laughter of so many
English hearts. Not the least attractive part of -)
the work is
lo,vinthge pr
iutearieoseh
tiginavvhecoich the h
account
atuhteroirsegaivneacv:
progress of the "Pickwick Club"
"I have seen vari)us acc3unts in print, of the origin
of these Pickwick Papers ; which have, at all events
possessed for me—the charm of perfect novelty. As
may infer, from the oceatienal appearance of such hie.
tering, that my readers have an interest in the matter, X
will relate how they came into existence.
"I was a young man of three and twenty, when the
present publishers, attracted by some pieces I was at
that time writing in the Morning Chron;ele newspaper
(of whieh one series had lately been collected and pub-
lished in two volumes, illultrateil by my esteemed friend
Mr. George Cruikshank), waited upon me to propose
something that should be published in shilling numbers
—then only known to me, or, I believe, to anybody else,
by a dim recollection of certain interminable novels in
that form, which used to be carried about the country
by pedlars, and over some of which I remember to have
shed innumerable tears, Were I had served my appren-
ticeship to Life.
" When I opened my door in Farnival's Inn to the
managing partner who represented the erns, I recog-
nise] in him the person from whose hands I had bought,
two or three years previously, add whom I bad never
seen before or since, my first copy of the Magazine in
which my first effusion—dropped stealthily one evening
at twilight, with fear and trembling, into a dark letter•
box, in a dark office, up a dark court in Fleet-street—
appeared in all the glory of print ; on which memorable
occasion—how well I recollect it walked down to
Westminster Hall, and turned into it for half-an-hour,
because my eyes were so dimmed with joy and pride,
that they could not bear the street, and were not fit to
be seen there. I told my visitor of the coincidence,
which we both hailed as a good omen ; and so fell to
business.

" The idea propounded to ma was, that the menthly
something should be a vehicle for certain plates to be exe-
cuted by Mr. Seymour ; and there was a notion, either
on the part of that admirable humorous artist, or of my
aisitor (I forget which), that a ' Nimrod Club,' the
members of which were to go out shooting, fishing, and
so forth, and getting themselves into difficulties through •
their want of dexterity, would be the best means of in-
troducing these. I objected, on consideration, that
although born and partly bred in the country, I was no
great sportsman, except in regard of all kinds of locomo-
tion ; that the idea was not novel, and had been already
much used : that it would be infinitely better fer the
plates to arise naturally out of the text ; and that I
should like to take my own way, with a freer range of
English scenes and people, and was afraid I should
ultimately do so in any case, whatever course I might
prescribe to myself at starting. My views being deferred
to, I thought of Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the first
number ; from the proof-sheeta of which Mr. Seymour
made his drawing of the club, and that happy portrait
of its founder, by which he is always recognised, and
which may be said to have made him a reality. I
connected Mr. Pickwick with a club, because of the
original suggestion, and I put in Mr. Winkle expressly
for the use of Mr. Seymour. We started with a number
of 24 pages instead of 32, and boar illustrations in lieu
of a couple. Mr. Seymour's sudden and lamented
death before the second number was published, brought
about a quick decision upon a point already in agitation;
the number became one of 32 pages with 2 illustrations,
and remained so to the end. My friends told me it was
a low, cheap form of publication, by which I should ruia
all my rising hopes • and how right my friends turned
out to be, everybody new knows.
" ' Buz," my signature in the Morning Chronicle,
appended to the monthly cover of this book, and re.
mined long afterwards, was the nickname of a pet child,
a younger brother, whom I had dubbed Moses, in hosour
of the Vicar of Wakefield ; which being facetiously
pronounced through the nose, became BMION, and being
shortened, became Boz. ' Boz ' was a very familiar
household word to me, long before I was an author, and
so I came to adopt it.
"It has been observed of Mr. Pickwick, that there is
a decided change in his oharaoter, as these pages pro-
ceed, and that he becomes more good and more sensible.
I do not think this change will appear forced or unna-
tural to my readers, if they will reflect that in real life
the peculiarities and oddities of a man who has anything
whimsical about him, generally impress us first, and
that it is not until we are better acquainted with him
that we usually begin to look below these superficial
trait?, and to know the better part of him."
In a frank and genial dedication, the series is
inscribed to Mr. John Forster, as the friend of the
author during his " whole literary life." The
work before us has passed beyond the need of
critical approbation, or analysis. It only remains
to commend to the general public what the author
himself styles " the best edition of my books."

Lyrics of Ireland.

Edited and Annotated by

Sa-muel Lovor. Houlston and Wright.

The Lyrics of Ireland are synonymous with
mirth, melody, pathos, and patriotism, and Mr.
Samuel Lover may be safely trusted as a guide and
collector among their embarras de richesses. The
present volume is handsomely bound and well
printed, with numerous illustrations. It is ade
lightful volume for all who prize the simple and
natural ballad, the spirit-stirring martial strain,
or the humorous and laughter-moving songs for
which Ireland has always been conspicuous. One
who is himself not unknown in a path which so
many of till great and gifted have trod before him
is the fitting editor for this collection. Some of
them do honour to writers of our own day, some
trace back their origin till the authorship is for-
gotten, many more are from the pens of poets of a
past generation, but their lyrics remain to us un-
changed. In the words of the beautiful poem, en-
titled " Songs of Our Land," with which the
volume concludes,—
-

" The bards may go down to the. place of their slumbers,

The lyre of the charmer be ]inched in the grave ;
But far in the future the power of their numbers
Shall kindle the hearts of the faithful and brave."

Bothwell : a Poem,. By W. E. Aytoun, author of
"Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers." Third edition,
revised. Blackwood.
We have before criticised this poem at length,
and therefore have only to say that it is published
in a commodious form, revised and corrected by the
author.

By Professor Wilson. Blackwood and
Sons.

This is the eleventh ♦olume of the excellent
series of the works of Professor Wilson which
Messrs. Blackwood are now issuing, edited by
Professor Ferrier, his son-in-law. The beautiful
tales in this volume are well known to English as
well as Scottish readers, and have delighted both.
Many will be glad of the present opportunity of
securing them in a complete and connected form.
The next and concluding volume of the series will
contain the poetical works of Professor Wilson,
affording another evidence of the versatility of his
powers.

Uncle Jack the Fault Killer.
Willie's Birthday, and How he Enjoyed it.
Willie's Best ; a Sunday Story. By the author of
" Round the Fire," &o. Smith and Elder.
These are three charming
ter
to whom such littlelittlestoriesfor very
young readers, by a writer
people are already much indebted. They are clear
and simple and within the comprehension of chil-
dren, while they contrive to convey indirectly a
good deal of information, and to impress ideas on
the mind in a new and striking way, They are
valuable contributions to the juvenile library, suited
for an earlier age than most story books, and being
prettily bound and illustrated and in largo clear
type, they offer great attractions for birthdays and
festivals.

The three larTgeheplAatretsjo°furtlhtal.
inl CI ronf the" present number
a Spanish Letter Wr?ter, by J. Phillip;
Kl.;
oyal Collection atLyOsGbOrnHe.;
andF r p_
Thep_ , bothwou
Wounded
dthaet
Scutari, a beautiful engraving, from the sculpture
by J, Pliyffers. The small woo ]cuts and illustra.
tions scattered throughout the work are numerouF,
and oecas'onally very pleasing. The second paper
on Paul Veronese opan3 the number, and there are
many subjects of artistic interest treated of in its
contents. The Book of the Thames, by Mr. and
Mrs. S. C. Hall, is continued ; and there are papers
on Art in Scotland, in the Provinces, and in Con-
tinental States ; on the Tombs of English Artists,
Botany adapted to Art, Colours obtained from the
Animal Kingdom, &c. The thirty-third number
of the series of papers on British Artists is de-
voted to J. F. Lewis, from whose works soma
illustrations are given.

A CHILD ATTACHED BY A FBIIRKT.—On Friday left,
at Redditcb, a woman, named Aston, who was entrusted
with the care of a child a few months old, locked up her
house and went out, leaving the child in bed in an up.
stairs room, and a ferret loose in a room on the ground-
floor: During her absence the neighbours, hearing the
e did crying, burst open the iioor, and on getting .4?
stars they found that the ferret had ascended the 8
nt ati rhse,
and then mounted the bed, and made bothaata KPo
helpless infant. It was in a sad statee—,
had commenced
face being eaten away, and
. the fieerreupp
(eed, defended
upon the head. The child, 1 sidues of the
arms are both bitten
itself as well as it could, thefor,,ell as out be expected.--
severely. It is going " "
TVOIVC1:401/1/4Q/1 Chronicle.