The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-22 00:00:00

THEZSUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEIVIBER 22, 1859.

part of the appurtenances of a farm just'as much as
the buildings for cattle, or any of those other erec-
tions essential to the cultivation of the land. How
can the land be well cultivated if the labourers are
not well housed ? if they are obliged to trudge 3or
4 miles in order to get at their work, and the same
distance home again ? It is manifest that they must
be not only exhausted physically, but that their
time must be wasted in walking to and from their
work, and that the farmer does not get from them
his money's worth for the wages he pays. (Hear.)
Therefore I consider that in providing a farm with
accommodation for the number of labourers to be
employed on it you are giving facilities to the tenant
to cultivate his farm, and increasing the value of
the farm which you let to a good tenant. If you
get a shilling a week from the labourer it is more
to impress upon his mind that he is earning the ac-
commodation you give him rather than from any
idea that it is to repay the expense of the erection.
It is not like building houses in a town which are
built to be let as a profitable investment, but it is
an addition to the value of the farm : and depend
upon it a good tenant will give you more rent for a
farm which ho can cultivat to advantage. (Hear,
hear, and cheers.) Then as to the expense of these
cottages. Now, the cottages which Mr. Dutton
and myself have built contain really no more ac-
commodation than a decent family ought to have.
They have simply one room to live in, a back
kitchen, and what is of the utmost importance,
three sleeping places. No cottage ought to bo
without three sleeping places—one for the man and
his wife, another for the girls, and another for the
boys. It is not necessary to pull down old cottages
to build new ones. A great deal can be done at a
moderate expense in improving old ones. All yOu
require is to put a little porch in front of the door,
which costs little; to give them a boarded floor
instead of bricks ; to make the walls air-tight and
the roof water tight; to give three sleeping-rooms,

and to put up a sort of shealing at the back, with a
little place below for a wood house. It is quite a
mistake to suppose, then, that nothing real and
essential can be done in improving the dwellings of
the labouring classes short of milling down the old
ones and erecting new ones. The effect of improv-
ing those dwellings is almost marvellous. In the
first place, you know that the comfort of a man's
house depends upon the tidiness of his wife and the
mode in which she tries to make him comfortable
but there is a temper of the human mind which is
denominated recklessness. When. a thing seems
impossible it is given up in despair. When a cot-
tage is in such a ramshackle state that it is impos-
sible for the wife to keep it clean she becomes a
slattern, everything goes to ruin, the man is dis-
gusted, and flies to the beershop. (Hear, hear.) If,
on the contrary, the wife feels that she can by a
little exertion make the cottage decent and respec-
table she does so, and then the man enjoys the com-
fort and happiness of his home, stays away from
the beershop, and the sum of money he would spend
in liquor goes to the benefit of his wife and chil-
dren. (Hear, and cheers.) I had an example of
that in a double cottage of my own. It was in a
dreadful state ; the walls were not air-tight, it had
a brick floor, a bad roof, and everything uncomfor-
table. The people who occupied them were slovens
and slatterns, and quarrelsome ill-neighbours. At
a small expense it was made tidy ; boarded floors
put down ; a little porch erected, with a wood house
and other conveniences, and from that moment these
people altered entirely their character, altered en-
tirely their conduct, became well-conditioned people
and good neighbours, which they had never been be-
fore. (Hear, and cheers.) 'therefore, I entreat
everybody not to run away with the notion that
nothing can be done to improve the dwellings of
the poor, short of building cottages which they may
think too expensive for their means. Depend upon
it that a very great deal can be done, at a moderate
expense, towards making old cottages decent and
habitable. (Loud cheers.)
The Hon. 11. DUTTON gave " the health of Lady
Palmerston," which was cordially responded to.
Lord PALMERSTON then proposed the last toast
—He said, I rise to do homage to that which may
properly be said to be one of the wonders of modern
civilisation. I mean " The Press." (Cheers.) If
any man compares now a newspaper published in
the last century with one of' those wonderful sheets
we read everyday, the contrast is the most striking
that the mind of man can imagine. The quantity
of information, the talent of dissertation, the amount
of news of every kind which we now find in almost
every newspaper we meet with is really one of the
most striking proofs of the progress which the
human intellect has made in the days in which we
live. It may really be put in competition with the
steam engine and the electric telegraph, but there
is one part of the functions of the press which, be.
yond all others, has improved of late years. I have
heard that towards the end of the last century there
was a man named Woodfall who used to publish
debates ; and how did he do it ? It is said that he
used to go to the gallery of the House of Commons,
' listen attentively with his face in his hands to what
passed, go home, drink two pots of porter, go to
bed, get up next morning, and from his dreams and
his recollections make out what he called a report of
a debate. (Cheers.) Now-a-days, so marvellous is
the ability and so wonderful the rapidity with which
reporters take down what men say that if speakers
are not very careful the reporters take down what
they had much better not to have said. (Laughter.)
I remember a very worthy M.P., an Irish M.P.,
Mr. Richard Keene, who once complained that the
reporters in the gallery had not done him full jus
tice to a speech he had made the night before. The
reply he received had, perhaps, more of sharpness
than civility in it, for it was—" Mr. Keene, we made
the best speech we could for you, but, if you are not
satisfied with our endeavours, the next time we
will report what you do say—(loud laughter)—
and whatever you may think of it, we suspect your
friends will hardly relish the infliction." (Laughter)
Now, it is quite marvellous to see the accuracy with
which debates in the House of Commons are re-
ported. When the speeches are such as are calcu-
lated to attract attention they are reported word for
word as they are uttered, and how it is possible for
the human hand to follow with such rapidity and
such exactness I am at a loss to conceive. I once, as
many others have done, began to learn shorthand,
but I confess that I found out two difficulties which
turned out to be quite insurmountable. The one was
to write it—(laughter)—and the next and greatest
to read it when it was written. (Loud laughter.) I
beg now to propose that institution to which the
progress of civilisation and all the interests of the
country are ao deeply indebted, " The Press."
(Cheers.)
The proceedings then terminated.

THE POPE IN THE PRESENT CRISIS.

Under the above head, the Cork, Examiner pub-
lishes the following passages taken from a letter
received by the knightly member for Dungarvan
from a gentleman, of high position in Rome. It is
dated the 10th December :

it I am happy to say that the Holy Father is
perfectly well, and is very grateful for the sym-
pathy manifested for him by the Catholics
all over the world. The pastorals of the Irish
Bishops, and the great meetings held in Dublin,
and the sentiments elicited there, have been to him
a source of much consolation. Although it is for him
a moment of great trial and anxiety, yet he bears
his troubles with the greatest resignation, patience,
and equanimity, and every one remarks how cheer-
ful he is in the midst of his sufferings. Rome was
never more quiet than it is at this moment, and if
you were here you would not see any difference
from what it was last year. Of course we are look-
ing forward anxiously to the Congress. England,
no doubt, will be the great antagonist to the Holy
Father ; but I entertain a confident hope that the
majority of the representatives will be in his favour."
The organ of Mr. Maguire is sadly perplexed with
regard to the abortive meeting of Irish members on
Thursday last, and by a roundabout process of cal-
culation endeavours to make it appear that not 11,
but 18 representatives, may be said to have aided in
the movement. The balance of seven, it is argued,
although not present in the body, were virtually
there in spirit ; and, setting out with this comforting
assurance, the Examiner proceeds in this strain :

"These resolutions may be objected to by some as
being rather too moderate in their tone; but while
they may, with those, be open to objection on that
ground,others will commend them for theireoneilia-
tory spirit, andadmire them for their prudence. To
those who may think they do not go far enough,
our answer is this—were they too strong they
would prevent a certain class of gentlemen from
adopting them—and there is no necessity for strong
resolutions from men whose policy is already
known, and whose conduct does not depend upon
letters or phrases, but upon their principles and
their convictions. Let us illustrate our meaning
by a resolution in point, It is that having refe-
rence to the Holy Father and the temporal power.
It says, That any Government which attempts to
interfere with or to countenance an attack upon
the temporal sovereignty of the Father is unworthy
of the confidence of the Irish people and the sup-
port of their representative-. Some gentlemen
may not desire to commit themselves to a strong(r
resolution or to a more decided policy than this;
but there is not a Catholic of true independent pc-
Hey who, whether he adopts it or does not
adopt it, will'not resent by every legitimate means
in his power, and at the best possible opportunity,
any attempts against the Holy Father, whether
made by the Government or by its agents.
It is not necessary that wo should explain
why certain Catholic members did not at-
tend the meeting in Dublin. We should
have but a very poor opinion of the cou.l.