The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-15 00:00:00

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Alleged Libel on Mr. Sothern.

Just as the hour approached for the closing of tbe
Marylebone Police-court yesterday, Mr. Montague.
Williams, accompanied by Mr. Sothern and his so-
licitor, Mr. J. Turnley, 38, Cannon-street, city;
entered and craved Mr. Mansfield's attention for a
few moments.
Mr. Williams said he had to make an application
for a warrant against a person of the name of Robt.
Cooper, who is the printer and publisher of a paper
called the Spiritual Times, for a scandalous libel in-
serted in the impression of 27th January of this year,
If his worship looked at the imprint of the paper he
would see that it said " printed and published by the
proprietor, Robert Cooper, at the Spiritual Lyceum,
14, Newman-street, Ox Ford-street, in the county of
Middlesex, Saturday, Jan. 27,11866." This complaint
of Mr. Sothern is that what has been published
against his character and reputation in t1'4,3 paper iv
one of the basest liwels that could possibly be. Itis
not only traducing MP. Sothern in the opinion of
private iudi%iduals at home to whom he was dear,
but the party against whom he appves has attempted
to traduce him in Glasgow even, and other places
equally remote. He (Cooper) goes on to state from
his " Lyceum," whatever sort of place that may be,
that Mr. Sothern, whilst females have been in a
comatose state, has taken advantage of then. He
would not make any fr. her observation before read-
ing the article complained of, which was asfollows:
" Mr. Sothern, the actor, celebrat. I as the origi-
nal personator of Lord Dundrear j, and who is now

'wing in London upon the hatyNome competence
_ _

accumulated by his ' Ft' in the Dune Tary role, has
published a leL:er riclicu"ng ' spilituall/21' as a gross
imposition, and relates his own experience ;n this
city (New York), where, under the pom -Te plume of
Stuart, he sustained a leasing part in a ' miracle
circle.' We remember Mr. Sothern when, as Mr.
Stuart, he played the ' well-'ng gentleman' at
Barnum's Museum, and was considered hardly worth
his meagre salary of $l5 a-week. We also remem-
ber the same M. Swat t wher, as a small actor at
some other place of amusement here, he professed
to be a mesmeriser. He created grate a sensation
by admitting the truth of an accusation b-ought
against him by a ceT 'min new actress, th A he had
grievously wronged her after pliOng her in a state
of mesmeric influence."

What could be a more base calumny against any
person than this, whatever his position. He would
now read another poi ,ion of the same article :
" We were well acquainted with tim at the time
of the spiritual circle,' au which he was the ' opera-
tor,' and t.) which young Mr. Wolf —son of INolf,
of the Museum Orchestra—and now husband of
Josephine Orton, lcd the heroine of Arra na Pogue
at Niblo's ; but the ballet girl at the Museum was
the witting mcdiuna: Andrews, the actor, was the
mil aide medium in the same circle,' and used to
p_int some very clever landscapes, which he con.
sidered were produced under the immediate influence
of the spirits. of Raphael, Guido, Michael, and so on.
Mr. Wolf was an uncommonly skilful impostor, and
readily produced a variety of chirog:aphy as the
foe similes of the handwriting of depnited people.
gifted of the entire com-
pany of simulatois."

In applying for this warrant he wished to draw
b's worship's particular attention to what he was
about to read next :

"Hc v•-as a good-looking, gay, vivacious, fasi-)
young man, whose pretty wife continually won the
sympathy of those who were witnesses of her hus-
band's licentiousness. Mr. Sotherp, therefore,
boasts entirely too much of his fame as a medium,'
for in justice to spiritual;sm (in which we admit we
have no faith), we must confess that-he never was a
medium' of any importance . . . but there-

are too many persons in New York cognisant of the
facts to let his self-complacency go una;scredited."
The learned counsel continued—There was also
another periodical which had made an unwarrant-
able attack upon his client, but of which ho would
say no more about, as it; was out of his worship's
district. The accusations against his client were of

a vet/ grave character, more especiary considering
his reputation and his position in society. lo
_ _

wished for an opportunity to be placed in the box to

meet his calumniator. So seriously did this matter

affect him that it almost unfitted him for his pro-
fessional business. It was also a talk at the club-

houses as to whether he would move to vindicate

his character. The learned counsel concluded by
asking for the warrant.

The warrant was granted.

TIIE FASHION OF WEARING RINGS ON TIIE
FINGERS is certainly more convenient than that
adopted in the East Indies and other places far away, in
which we read of their being worn in the nose, lips, cheeks,
and chin. When Peter Alvarez had his first audience of
the King of Calicut, he found that monarch adorned with
jewels on every available part of his person. The barba-
rity of cannot bo sufficiently stigmatised
by a lady a ringho in
wears one in her ear. The lady who affects
ww e the s lip
the lip-ring considers the pierced ear a sign of slavery, as
it was known to be by the Hebrews long ago. Travellers
in India have realised the nursery tradition of the lady
with "rings on her fingers and bells on her toes ;" and wo
know that the tinkling feet of the Jewish women incurred
the reprobation of the prophet Ezekiel. All nations seem
to agree in this love of personal ostentation. The entrails
of the earth are torn to extract gems for a lady's finger.
How many hands, says Pliny, are worn down that one
little joint may be ornamented. "If the infernal regions
really existed, certainly these burrows of avarice and
luxury would have penetrated into them."—Once a Week.
THE Loss OF TIIE EXCELSIOR.—On Tuesday
evening the steamer Helen /11‘Gregor, Captain
Knowles, arrived at Hull from Hamburg, after a very heavy
passage. Captain Knowles reported that the telegrams
which had been received at Hamburg of the loss of the
Excelsior stated that the captain, his wife, one passenger,
and 15 of the crow had been saved by the Guister lifeboat.
They had been six days in the rigging without food, and
the sea making a clear breach over them. They were in a,
very exhausted condition when rescued, and they were
placed under the doctor's hands. The owners--Messrs.
Lofthouse, Glover, and Company—also received a telegram
beenfrom aNavoerdd,etnh,ewrehmaichinsdlearteadlidthfiavteopnalysseln3goefrsthbeeincorelwosth.ad
EADVERTISEMENTI—COUSUMptIOII, and all nervous, billow',
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sinking fits, bronchitis, scrofula, tightness of the cheat,
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EMOSES AND SON'S
• OUTFI l'S,
for all classes, all ages, and all climates.

"Ll. MOSES AND SON'S
JLA • LONDON HOUSES,
154, 155, 156, 157, lilnories; 83, 84, 85, SO, 87, 88, 89, Aldgate ;
506, 507, 508, New Oxford—street ; 1,2, 3, Hart-sired;
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Also, Bradford. Yorkshire.

EMOSES AND SON'S
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sunset until Saturday evening at sunset, when business is re-
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All articles are marked the lowest prices in plain figures.
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returned.
List of Prices with Rules for Self-measurement, Fashion
Card, and our new pamphlet, " The Philosophy of Dress,"
gratis and post free.

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tt:

LONDOIV, THURSDAY, FEB. 15, 1866.

It is satsi.actory
i,
that the Government Bill on the
Cattle plague has progressed so far in so compara-
tively short a period. Notwithstanding some
p
position, the bill was read a second time yesterday
afternoon, and to
-daY the committee
l will begin its
labours. No doubt faults can
measure as with every other, jet found with this
mined to do so, but this seems people are deter-
mined of those proposals
which should not be regarded in too
a
spirit or too criticising a temper. If we arc to ecaptiousB a
until every one is satisfied, we may
g° ontllwait
effeetthdo
end of the session, and legislation will have
nothing for the interests of the community in this
pressing and overwhelming calamity. Mr. .... IA
attuirr,
as usual, gave the House the benefit of his opinion,
which, of course, was adverse to anything in the
shape of liberality. It would seem as if no distress
or trouble that may affect the interests of the
agricultural classes can ever have power to eradi-
cate from the mind of the hon. member for Bir-
mingham his deep-rooted prejudices and extend
his narrow and moat contracted notions. We pro-
test against this class style of legislation being
advocated within the walls of Parliament, and in
this instance of the cattle plague it is as absurd as
it is unseemly. How, in the name of common
sense, can an evil of this sort go on increasing,
as it is tulfortimmro
Y dying, without affecting very

seriously all classes of the community in a direct
or in an indirect manner. It is contrary to all the
soundprinciples of political economy that any
class of the people should be left to sink
under the burden of a peculiar and appalling
nature. It is difficult to decide whether Mr.
BRIGHT'S remarks are more to be respected for
their argumentative power, or their moral tendency.
He declares that " nothing can be more monstrous
than that the public should be called upon to make
up to individuals the loss which may arise from acci-
dent, or, as it may be termed in this case, the
dispensation of PROVIDENCE."
Again, what right has Mr. BRIGIIT to assume
that if the House sanction the principle of com-
pensation no efforts will be made by the farmers
to check the progress of the disease. The want
of compensation during all these months has had
no beneficial effect in stopping its course, and it is
quite idle to go on arguing after this fashion. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer had next to look to his
laurels, for Mr. BRIGHT threatens to become a
formidable antagonist to him. There was a deep
meaning in the ironical manner in which
he called the right hon. gentleman to account last
night for his dereliction of duty in this respect. He
could not have been more severe or impertinent had
they entered into a compact on the question. "This
is introducing a principle," said he, " which I did not
expect the Chancellor of the Exchequer would sanc-
tion, but I suppose he consented to it on the ground
that it will scarcely affect his new Budget." Mr.
BRIGHT'S concluding remarks were most intempe-
rate. He went out of his way to insult the country
gentlemen, he charged the farmers with being
quite ready to commit fraud, or something very like
it, and wound up his observations by declaring
that this scourge must be regarded, like all other
scourges, as incurable, and must have its course,
and no human power could check it. According to
this idea nothing would be done in times of cholera
and epidemics, and it really is surprising to find any
one so perverted and prejudiced as the hon. member
for Birmingham in this mattter.

Mr. MILL also objected to the proposal for corn-
pensation, and spoke upon it, but in a more mode-
rate style than Mr. BRIGHT, but he gave it as his
opinion, which was certainly a very strange one,
that he did not think, in the end, the agricultural
interest would be losers by this calamity. Mr.
LOWE'S speech was very much to the point, and he
described Mr. BRIGHT'S views very correctly, and
created great amusement by declaring, that " so
inveterate has become his habit of setting one class
against another, that he does not content himself
with the human race, but extends it to those animals
which have either come up to the level of the human
race, or to whose level the human race has come
down, and has actually got up a schism between
the humble cur and the aristocratic foxhound ?" Mr.
LowE also said very truly that Mr. BRIGHT had
adopted a very mischievous course in talking of
this bill as a scheme got up by the rich mem-
bers of the House to indemnify themselves and
their tenants at the expense of their poorer neigh-
bours. Thus, he said, " grievances are got up,
misrepresent wholly the facts, assume motives and
objects which do not exist, pick out the extreme of
one class as the only persons benefited, and the
other extreme class as the persons only injured, and
you have a receipt for converting all the best and
wisest institutions of the country into intolerable
grievances." This is an admirable definition of the
style in which Mr. BRIGHT and his friends go oni
and the loud cheers with which it was received
showed that, however much the hon. member for
Birmingham may succeed in his addresses at public
meetings in creating a sensation, he will not im-
press the House by his intemperate language and

intolerant spirit.
Viscount CRANBOURNE was of great service in
clearing away the mists that tended to obscure the
main question from notice ; and he showed how
futile were the objections made against compensa-
tion. The farmer will not slaughter his cattle him-
self, but the local officers of the inspector will do
so, and they will have no interest in indiscriminate
sacrifice, because they will have to pay for all that
are killed. Very true were the remarks made by
the noble lord on the manner in which this
subject was treated by other speakers as merely a
class interest. He said that when the " interests
of Ireland called for the granting of national aid
the House very justly came to their aid ; when the
cotton interests required public assistance the house
very properly enabled the cotton population to
seek their relief in great part from the succour
which the House gave, and from the parishes to
which the distressed artisans belonged, and no one
complained of injustice in these instances." In
this question, however, it is not even necessary
to employ these arguments, conclusive as they are,
because it is a question which affects the whole
country. Very true were the remarks made by the
noble lord as to the necessity that existed for
prompt measures. He said that the "rindeipest
had no respect for deep-rooted feelings, and must be
dealt with as an army in the field ; it should be
opposed by such means as you would use to resist
the conflagration of a great city, or the advance of
a French marshal at the head of a hundred thou-
sand men."

Mr. GRENVILLE, who represents one of the
largest agricultural constituencies in the kingdom,
was in favour of the Government measure, which
certainly is important testimony in its favour.
Mr. HUNT considers that, for a time, all movement
of cattle should be stopped by road and rail, and
intends to take the sense of the House upon the
proposition.

The position of affairs in New Zealand is not
very satisfactory. The continuance of the native
war must certainly be as annoying to the colonists
as it is costly and obstructive to their material pro-
however, being gradually
gress. Tranquillity is,
restored, and there appears to be a confident hope
or expectation that the war will not last for many
months longer. The new Ministry, under Mr.
STAFFORD, have not pursued any very different
course from that followed by Mr. WELD and his
Cabinet. They appear inclined to support the
principle of self-defence, seeing that the 70th
Regiment is preparing for departure, and some
of the other troops are to be distributed with
a view to facilitate the removal of a good
many more. These measures are evidently dictated
more by the wish of dispensing with the military
assistance of the mother country than by any con-
viction that the necessity for troops is at an end,
seeing that no reduction has been effected in the
colonial forces; and, indeed, a further enrolment of
both Europeans and natives has been ordered.
The question of self-defence is, however, a diffi-
cult one, for it entails the invidious task of taxa-
tion. If the Imperial forces are to be at once dis-
. poised with, there must inevitably be some means
devised for raising the funds necessary for carrying
on the war. Even supposing peace is restored in a
few months time, as all must hope it may be, there
will still be a necessity for raising money, although
the necessity may be only a temporary one.
The chief local question in the colony arises from
this very matter, for some parties have taken up
the idea of separation, not, as might be supposed,
from the mother country, but trona each other.

The Southern colony is unwilling to share the
burden of maintaining the native war, and
its politicians argue that if the expenditure
of the last few years is to be taken as a sample of
what is to come, all the revenues of all the provinces
will be absorbed in this native imbroglio. How the
Middle Island is to support an expense which is too
great for the whole colony is not asked by these
politicians, but there does not seem much proba-
bility of the question ever coming to a serious issue.
New Zealand is certainly neither populous enough
nor wealthy enough to attempt such a thing as
separation with any prospect of success. The
position which it holds is a very different
one from that of Australia, and although
several different colonies having separate
Governments have been erected on that vast conti-
nent, New Zealand has no reason for imitating her
larger, richer, and more powerful neighbour. Some
of the schemes for amending the colonial constitu-
tion are almost amusing, especially a project, seri-
ously propounded, of erecting each of the nine
provinces into a separate and independent
State under a Federal Government, after the Ameri-
can fashion. Such an experiment would seem like
the Lilliputians imitating the Brobdignagians.
There are three other modes in contemplation ; but,
as Mr. CARDWELL has throughout discouraged the
notion, it is not likely that we shall hear much
more of it. If by dny means this harassing and
encumbering war could be got rid of the colony
might make rapid progress, since it has every na-
tural advantage, and if the tide of emigration once
set in that way its population would rapidly in-
crease, and its resources be proportionately de-
veloped.

The Spanish Government is beginning to discover
that it has got into a difficulty by its unwarrant-
able conduct towards Chili, and the Spanish com-
mander in the Pacific has already made that dis-
covery. The old story about catching a Tartar
seems likely to receive a modern illustration in the
shape of the blockading squadron, which is in a fair
way of being blockaded itself. The• new comman-
der has found it advisable to suspend the blockade
of two ports, Talcalinano and Coquimbo, concen-
trating his forces at Valparaiso and Caldera.
Even under these circumstances he is in a diffi-
cult position. His crews are in a bad condition,
and, it is said, there are even symptoms of disaffec-
tion and insubordination among them. They are,
in fact, suffering from a very practical difficulty—
the lack of provisions, since the new Government
of Peru, which is hostile to Spain, has refused to
permit the vessels laden with supplies forte fleet to
leave Callao. It is said in Madrid that money and
provisions in abundance are on their way to Chili ;
but the fact seems to be that the blockade willhave
to be raised from sheer want of the necessaries of
life. If, however, the Spanish fleet should manage
to hold out, it will have to encounter the
combined fleets of Chili and Peru, which
is likely to prove a formidable opponent. In
any case Spain will not meet with much sym-
pathy for her discomfiture. She has richly deserved
the humiliation and expense of failure, and it is only
to be hoped that she will profit by the lesson, and
learn to respect the independence of weaker States.
The patriotic determination of Chili to maintain the
war to the last extremity, rather than abandon her
independence, will, we trust, be rewarded by a
speedy removal of the obstruction to her commerce
and a restoration of peace and prosperity.

Sir G. GREY on Monday night obtained leave to
bring in a bill for the purpose of amending the oaths
administered to members of Parliament. The object
of the bill was very clearly stated by the right hon.
baronet in his brief discourse. At present there are
two distinct oaths taken by the members—one for
Protestants and the other for Catholics. The oath
of allegiance is common to all members to take,
and, as Sir G. GREY truly observed, it is only right
and fitting that all her MAJESTY'S subjects should
take it. The second part of the oath which is taken
by Protestants relates to the abjuration of the
claims of the Pretender and his descendants. As
all these are now dead, it seems, indeed, quite idle
to retain the form any longer. The late Lord
LYNDHURST declared that every man of common
sense must consider that the oath should be repealed,
since the utility was at an end. So far as Pro-
testants are concerned the oath of allegiance is
quite sufficient for them, since they never can con-
raider that any foreign prince or potentate has a right
to jurisdiction in the realm.

As regards the Itorcian Catholics, it is considered
that, with great propriety, much may be altered in
the present form of their oaths. Sir G. GREY said
that it was idle to insist upon their declaring
that no Prince or Potentate abroad had jurisdic-
tion, " civil or ecclesiastical, within this realm,
because there was no doubt that the Pope did
exercise a spiritual authority over the consciences
of those belonging to the Roman Catholic Church."
A general oath to be taken by all members alike is
what is now proposed ; and if the House accede to
the proposition no doubt it will be productive of
advantages. It is always a pity to insist upon the
retention of old forms and customs which are fast
growing obsolete through the chances and changes
of events, if they have not already done so; and
anything that excites indignant and irritated feel-
ings should be avoided, especially when it relates
to religious subjects. The subject was so much
discussed last year that it is not likely that the
bill will be opposed very strongly this session, and
it seems to be framed in a moderate and judicious