The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONLON, FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 29, 1867

with the verbal amendments introduced, and the
Chairman was ordered to report progress to extri-
cate the committee from its embarrassment. At
any rate we think that the Secretary at War has
done good service to the army by his new clause,
and we have no doubt that in course of time the
punishment of flogging will be entirely done with ;
but, like many other changes, it is wiser to do
things by degrees. It cannot be said that the
authorities have been indifferent to the opinion of
the House of Commons, or that they have disre-
garded the views taken of the question by the public
in general and those most interested in the manage-
ment of the army.

Lord DERBY is allowed no peace with respect to
the Eastern question, and notwithstanding the very
explicit answers which the noble Earl has already
given on the subject, it seems as if nothing but
reiterated explanations will satisfy the minds of
some on this matter. Last night, in the House of
Lords, Lord DENBIGH asked if it were true that her
MAJESTY'S Government had been invited to join
with France, Austria, and Russia, for the purpose
of recommending the Porte to cede the Island of
Crete to Greece. To this Lord DERBY replied that
there was no desire on the part of Government
to interfere with Turkey, which they had
"always regarded as a country with which we were
on the most friendly relations, and to which it was
desirable that we should give every support in our
power." No communication has been made to her
Majesty's Government of a nature such as that
alluded to, but the French ambassador intimated
the intentions of his Government to Lord STANLEY,
and was informed that we did not intend to inter-
fere in the matter. Under the circumstances of the
case this was by far the wisest course that the noble
lord at the head of foreign affairs could have
adopted, and we think that the views expressed by
Lord DERBY last night will meet with the approval
of the public. We may give that advice to Turkey
which we think desirable on certain occasions,
but it is as well to refrain from any policy, or
" advising any act which is inconsistent with the
independent jurisdiction of Turkey over its own
provinces." The idea of advising Turkey to cede
the Island of Crete to Greece would be very mis-
taken policy, and we do not wonder that our
Government did not consent to doing so. It is
satisfactory to have met with this assurance of the
course that Ministers have pursued ; and it may
now be considered that there is no chance of the
" meddle and muddle" policy of his predecessors
in the Foreign-office being indulged in by Lord
STANLEY, which in itself affords confidence to all
competent judges.

Among the other achievements of the session we
may hope to rank some practical measure for deal-
ing with one of the most pressing questions of the
day—the overcrowding of the poor in our great
cities. Much praise is due to Mr. TORRENS for the
perseverance and determination which he has shown,
and, in spite of some opposition, it was evident
yesterday that the House of Commons is fully pre-
pared to second his endeavours. Mr. WALPOLE,
on the part of the Government, gave his cordial
support to the principle of the measure, and mem-
bers on both sides came forward with strong evi-
dence in its favour. It is worthy of notice that two
of the metropolitan members were among the
severest critics of the measure—on the principle,
-we suppose, of the cobbler's wife being the worst shod,
fAr f 1-11nrn is any place in which the evils of over-
crowding are felt to a greater extent than another
it is surely in the metropolis. No doubt some of
the clauses of the bill are capable of improvement,
and the whole question, since it affects those rights
of property which are legally so much more valuab!e
than human life, is one of peculiar difficulty. Those
gentlemen who have troubled themselves very
little about the subject are ready to object to any
interference with private rights, and are willing to
leave the whole matter to private benevolence and
enterprise. Those who have examined it more
closely, find it impossible to reconcile themselves to
so simple a solution of the problem. Mr. TORRENS,
in moving the second reading of the bill, referred to
this view of the question, and declared that wherever
there was a fair field and no favour, wherever there
was an evil that men could combat, he was willing
to adopt it. He could not, however, admit that
they should apply the doctrine of laissez faire to
fever and pestilence, and he aptly quoted CARLYLE'S
bitter summary of the world's policy, " Success to
the strongest, death to the weakest in the race, and
the devil take the hindmost." Mr. TORRENS ap-
pealed to the common sense of the House, saying
that " when a man, who had worked 10 or 12 hours
a-day, had to live with his family in a stye, such as
they would not condemn their horses or dogs to lie
down in, it was not to be expected that he should
devote himself to the cultivation of his intellect or
refrain from going round the corner to get three-
pennyworth of paradise at the gin-shop." All
attempts to elevate or to educate the masses must be
in a great measure neutralised by the wretched con-
dition of their homes. No doubt the very poor are
often dirty and thriftless, neglecting alike health,
decency, and cleanliness, but how can we expect
them to be otherwise when, from their earliest
years, they have been accustomed to such miserable
and demoralising surroundings ? They are com-
pelled, in many cases, to live near their work, rents
are high, and there is little choice of rooms. Pre-
sently a new street is made, or some other improve-
ment carried out, and some of the houses they live
in come down. What can they do but pack a
little tighter in those that are left? The continual
presence of fever in the purlieus of the metropolis
has long attracted the attention of the health
officers, but, after examining some of the statistics,
many persons will be disposed to wonder, with
Mr. P. URQUHART, that infectious disease does
not prevail among us to a greater extent.
Like every other wilful neglect of the kind, the
evil is a most costly one. Mr. SELWIN, in giving
some statistics respecting the loss occcasioned by
preventible deaths, shows that in London alone it
amounted to nearly £4,000,000 in one year. The loss
of labour occasioned to the borough of Lancaster,
where 113 cases of preventible cases had occurred
in one year, was set down at over £16,000.
Nor was this mere theoretical calculation. In many
instances the loss presses directly upon the rate-
payers, who are supposed to be interested in
defeating any scheme like the present. Mr.
TORRENS cited a most painful case which had
come under his own notice. When Union-
court was destroyed numbers of families
were turned out. One labouring man with a
largo family, who was forced to live near his
work, had much difficulty in getting a single room
in a great thoroughfare for a high rent. It was in
the sultry days of autumn, and fever soon followed
him to his new abode. Some of the family took it,
and some escaped, but the mar, himself died, leaving
his widow and six children destitute on the parish.
Why, asked Mr. TORRENS, had the fever attacked
that man? Because in that house there were already
57 persons living. It was, in fact, so full that the
officers of the parish shrank from the responsibility
of clearing it and this, it seems, is often the
case where groat numbers of persons have no
other shelter available. The object of the Public

Health Bill is thus in a measure defeated, and oven
if its provisions are rigidly enforced it does not meet
the wants of the case. Mr. TORRENS'S Bill em-
powers the authorities to destroy houses which are
condemned as unfit for human habitation, and if the
owners refuse to rebuild them, after a certain lapse
of time, to rebuild them themselves. The scheme is
not a visionary one, having been tried with great
success in Liverpool. The evil complained of,
though felt perhaps more severely in London than
anywhere else, owing to recent improvements,
and to the constant influx of labouring people
from the country, exists more or less
throughout the country. Mr. GREEN said, in
supporting the bill, that he had recently gone
to reside in a village which contained 1,000 inhabi-
tants, and he found that the number of cottages
with three rooms each did not bear the proportion
of 15 per cent. of the whole. The hon. member
very justly added that, in his opinion, the resalt of
the overcrowded dwellings in the various towns was
the production of a greater amount of demoralisation
than arose from all other causes put together, while
it tended also to bring about physical deterioration
in a great degree. In fact, it is as plainly the inte-
rest as it is the duty of the upper and middle classes
to see that those who have not the opportunity of
legislating for themselves shall be provided with
a fair supply of decent dwellings. It is idle
to talk about the expense to be incurred, since no
policy can be more wasteful, more unprofitable, and
in every way more disastrous than the one we have
been hitherto pursuing. To save the risk of a tem-
porary outlay, 'the ratepayers demand that the work-
ing man shall risk his health and his life, but such
selfish economy most surely defeats itself. The
labourer in such a case may use the words of HOOD
in condemning a similar negligence :

" The very shilling you hoped to save,
As health and morals fail,
Shall visit me in the new Bastille,
The Spital or the gaol !"

CORRESPONDENCE FROU PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, Thursday Evening.

There was a Cabinet Council yesterday at the
Tuileries, at which the Emperor presided. The
Empress was present.
In its weekly review of foreign affairs, the even-
ing Moniteur says :--'4 The presence of the Em-
peror Francis Joseph in the capital of his kingdom
of Hungary draws closer the ties which connect the
Sovereign and the MEgyars. The new Hungarian
Ministry has not omitted any opportunity of prov-
ing the sentiments of conciliation with which it is
animated. It has understood that at a period of
transition between tvo different regimes there were
various interests to consult, and it wished to effect
the change without lisorder and without giving a
shock to public feeling. A project of law is in pre-
paration with a viev to give further development to
the municipal organisation, and it is hoped that in
future duties will be paid without difficulty. The
Emperor Francis Joseph, who summoned his prin-
cipal Austrian Ministers to Pesth, in order that
they might be in communication with his Hun-
garian Ministers, studied anxiously and conscien-
tiously every question which requires solution. On
the other hand, the Hungarian Diet proceeds rapidly
with the examination of the project of the Commis-
sion of 67 members concerning affairs in common
and the general interest of the Austrian monarchy,
and a motion for deferring the discussion until after
the coronation has been rejected by a very large
majority."
4, The situation in the direction of the Danube has
a tendency to improve in consequence of the wise
resolutions of Turkey. The opportune concessions
made by the Porto to tbQ Servinnst in reference to
the fortresses have converted a feeling of anxiety
and uneasiness into a sentiment of mutual confi-
dence, which will have a happy effect not only in
the Principality of Servia, but in all the neighbour-
ing provinces. Prince Michael, far from wishing
to disseminate elements of agitation abroad, has tes-
tified his desire to respect the ties which unite him
to the Suzerain Court.

" The Parliament of Northern Germany proceeds
rapidly in discussing and voting the articles of the
project of the Federal Constitution. The Russian
Government has reason to congratulate itself upon
the spirit and feeling with which the debates are
carried on."

There is no news of importance in the Monitett
of this morning. It has the following announce-
ment :—" The Emperor, in his solicitude for every-
thing that interests science and commercial rela-
tions, has decided that naval officers and hydrogra-
phical engineers shall be sent to different parts of
the globe with the object of determining, by astro-
nomical observation, a certain number of funda-
mental meridians which may serve to point out with
precision the geographical position of intermediate
places. This important labour will enable correc-
tions to be made in the table of latitudes and lon-
gitudes inserted in the Connaissance des Temps, the
errors in which have been pointed out in a report
addressed to the Minister of Public Instruction by
tho President of the Bureau of Longitudes."
A subscription has been opened among the pupils
of the Imperial School of Fine Arts, in order to erect
a monument to the memory of M. Ingres, the great
painter. _

Thanks to the mildness of the winter, says a let-
ter from Tabernes de Valloigno (Spain) the crop of
strawberries is gathered very early this year. Enor-
mous quantities have already been sent to Madrid,
which are sold at two reals the pound (about 4d.).
At least I,ooolbs are sent daily to the capital.
An elegantly-dressed English pickpocket arrived
in Paris last Sunday, who distinguishes himself for
the moment by the name of John Brown. He is one
of many industrious persons who wish to make a
fortune at the Exhibition, or rather he desires to
obtain it by a shorter cut. Fortune must be sought
for somewhere. John seeks it in the pockets of the
people. He had not long landed from the train
when he mixed among the crowd at the ticket sta-
tion. He there put his hand into a lady's pocket
and took out a well-filled purse. She felt the
movement and uttered a cry. A police officer
in plain clothes had watched the operator, and
John, in spite of his protestation of innocence,
had very speedily an interview with the Commissary
of Police. On him were found not only the lady's
purse, but several others, and some watches and
jewellery.

According to the Italian journals, M. Ricasoli
persists in the idea of adding to his Ministry seve-
ral members of the majority with a view to estab-
lish a more direct communication between the Go-
vernment and the elective Chamber. According to
the Palle, M. Ricasoli will at all events retain the
presidency of the Council of Ministers, and M.
Ratazzi will be Minister of the Interior. The visit
of Prince llumbert to Vienna is fixed for the middle
of April. The Prince will be accompanied by Gen.
Menabren. The trial of Admiral Persano has been
postponed till the Ist of April.
The discussion upon the project of law for the
abolition of imprisonment for debt was not con-
cluded yesterday, and was resumed to-day. M.
Josseau, the President of the Commission, who
leads the opposition to the proposed relaxation of
the law, supported the argument", of the Commis-
sion with great ability, and said that although he
was adverse to the abolition of imprisonment for
debt, he wished for a reform in the present system
if it could be effected without violating what he
called the principles of commerce. M. Marie, with
equal energy and ability, advocated the abolition of
imprisonment for debt, which he contended was
"immoral," and therefore, even if it were useful, he
should oppose it. _

A. letter from Rome, dated March 17, says :
" Great preparations are in progress for the solemn
celebration of the secular anniversary of the martyr-
dom of St. Peter and the canonisations. The fetes
will commence on the 29th of June by a magnificent
ceremony in the Basilisk of St. Peter. On the
following day the Holy Father will officiate at San

Paolo. On the 7th of July Josafat and several
other servants of God will be canonised. On the
14th of July will take place the beatification
of 205 Japanese martyrs, whose miracles were ap-
proved by the last decree of the Pope."
I was informed to-day at the office of the Imperial
Commission that there will not be any inaugural
ceremony of opening on Sunday next, as has been
stated; but that the public opening will take place
on Monday next. The Commissioners and other
official persons only will be admitted on Sunday as
a formal but necessary measure, so as to be con-
vinced that they will be right in giving their sanc-
tion to the opening on Monday. For all to be
finished by that day is a thing utterly impossible.
It may seem strange, but it is true in one sense, that
the more progress made, the more is the unfinished
state of some of the constructions evident, because
when one process of ornamentation is finished an-
other is commenced, the completion of which seems
to demand more time. However, as far as I can
judge to-day, there is nothing to prevent the open-
ing of the Exhibition on Monday as proposed, and
the various operations now in progress may go on
without preventing an inspection of the articles
comprised in the Exhibition. It was rather a dan-
gerous task to walk through the Exhibition to-day.
What with excavations below and ponderous tim-
bers above, carts, trucks, and vehicles on tramways
all around, ropes above and masses of stones and
cases and goods below, it was " confusion worse con-
founded." Many of the English exhibitors have not
arrived, but in the English department there was
no lack of activity, and certainly no want of noisy
and imperative commands to workmen in every
direction. The chief avenue from the Pont d'Jena,
which faces the entrance to the English part of the
Exhibition, exhibits signs of splendid decoration,
and at the end of the avenue, to the left, there is
already an alarming British lion on its pedestal, the
teeth of which look so terrific that you may almost
fancy that you can hear him growl. Whether there
is to be another British lion on the right hand side,
this deponent cannot say; but even with one such a
lion we can descry a sort of symbol that England is
determined to have " God and my right." Many
of the agents of exhibitors having too long delayed
their applications for cards of admission, the Com-
missioners have given notice to-day that they can-
not have them in time to be available for the day
of the opening, but that they will be delivered at a
future period. It is but simple justice to say that the
Commissioners have exhibited a prompt and earnest
desire to give every possible facility to persons who
have a legitimate and business-like motive for ad-
mission within the precincts of the building. Such
agents as may be disappointed in obtaining admis-
sion after the opening will have themselves to blame,
and they may hereafter be convinced that " delays
are dangerous."

THE JAMAICA PROSECUTIONS.

EXAMINA.TION OF EX-GOVERNOR EYRE.

MARKET DRAYTON, Thursday.

The examination of Mr. Eyre-.n as resumed this
morning at ten o'clock. Sir Baldwin Leighton
(chairman) and the other magistrates present on
Wednesday were again on the bench. The chair-
man stated, before proceeding with the business,
that observations had been made by certain per-
sons sitting behind the witnesses yesterday con-
cerning the conduct of witnesses and the speeches
of counsel. Such observations were very indecent;
and, if the persons in court conducted themselves
in that manner, what could they expect from those
down stairs, who were more humble ?
Mr. John Dunning and Mr. J. D. Barnett were
successively examined, to prove the evidence given
by Mr. Eyre on the 7th and part of the 48th
days of the Royal Commission's sittings in Ja-
maica.

Mr. Giffard objected to the production of ex-
tracts from Mr. Eyre's evidence without the con-
text ; and after some discussion of the point, Mr.
Stephen ccnsented to the whole of the examination
of Mr. Eyre being cousiderea in court, and that
Mr. Giffard, in cross-examination, should have any
other parts he might think proper beyond those
proved by Mr. Stephen. This course was followed,
and the reading of Mr. Eyre's evidence, which had
occupied about an hour and a half on the previous
evening, occupied three hours more. The substance
of the evidence has long been before the public,
embodying Mr. Eyre's reasons for believing the
rising in 1865 to be serious, the letters and other
communications received by him from time to time
leading him to that conclusion, and prompting or
guiding the action he took in reference to the dis-
turbance.

Mr. C. W. Scott, clerk in the Colonial Office,
produced a despatch from Mr. Eyre to the Duke of
Newcastle, dated Aug. 7, 1862, referred to by Mr.
Stephen in his opening speech on Wednesday, as
that in which Mr. Eyre described Mr. Gordon as a
mischievous person. He also produced a despatch
from Mr. Eyre to Mr. Cardwell, dated 20th October,
1865, describing the outbreak and the steps taken
to suppress it.
The reading of these documents continued till the
midday adjournment of the court.

THURSDAY

The case for the prosecution is closed. Mr.
Giffard replies to-morrow (Friday) morning, and
it is expected the proceedings will close in the
evening.