The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-09 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY.-3iorning, 3h. 2in.—Afternoon, 31, 20rn.
•XJ-IllonitoW.-113ming, 311. 35a1.—Afternoon, 31i. 50m.

ett

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#,. nu.

LONDON, FRIDAY, NOV. 9, 1866.

whom he was employed, warned him that he would

be dismissed from the service of the Crown, and he
was eventually dismissed for persisting in neglecting
his children's education. Since then the efforts of
Mr. PEARSE to make him attend to his younger
children have been as unsuccessful as those of his
Predecessors to serve his elder ones.
What becomes, then, of Mr. BRIGHT'S reproach
that a family of eleven children have had no in-
struction in the least degree. 'Who can help such
a thing, much as it is to be regretted, when the
father is so obtuse and perverted in his judgment.
Mr. PEARSE mentions two facts which are worthy
of notice—first, that the church and school on the
heath have been erected, on land given by the
Crown, and also that they are mainly supported by
the " lords, squires, and Established clergy who
swarm in the neighbourhood." No one can deny
the great advantages that accrue from instruction,
but they may be purchased at too dear a cost,, and
the foreign practice of compelling parents to
educate their children will not suit our ideas, or be
suffered to prevail in this country. So far as we
can form any judgment in the matter, it would seem
as if Mr. BRIGHT had exposed a glaring instance of
error in one of the lower classes, and not oue at all to
implicate the higher ranks ; he has shown that in his
effort to make out the lords and squires to blame
he has not given himself time to find out
who was really in error, and thus drawn a
moral as to the harm done by refusing
the benefits of education. We generally find,
however, that in a case of this sort it is easier to
begin taunts and recriminations than to end them ;
and accordingly Mr. SMITH', Mr. BRIGHT'S infor-
mant, has thought fit to come forward, and in a
very unnecessary manner to revive the " vexed
question" in all its enormity. It seems that Mr.
SMITH wrote a letter to the Bishop of OXFORD, in
explanation of the statement he had made to Mr.
BRIGHT, and appears to be virtually indignant that
the Bishop should have published the letter he re-
ceived from Mr. PEARSE, the clergyman of Ascot,
and not his own also. In consequence Mr. &mum
has written to the Times to expose his wrongs, and
has also sent a copy of his letter to the Bishop.
It is a pity that some friend or adviser should not
have counselled him against so unwise a proceeding ;
but, we suppose, vexation at finding his anecdote to
Mr. BRIGHT so ineffective, however accurate it has
turned out to be, has made him wander from his

subject, for he touches on things that have no
connection with the matter in hand. The Prus-
sian system of education is most favourably con-
trasted with that of England, and we meet

most inflated remarks, such as these, for instance :
The Prussian Government have established a na-

tional system of education, and, in order to test its
results they have made inquiries, and ascertained
that only one man out of every two hundred-and
fifty cannot read or write. "It was the needle-gun
in the hands of these intelligent men who formed an

army such as the worl I never before saw, that
en Abled a little kingdom in a fortnight to overthrow
one of the greatest empires in Europe." Is it pos-
sible to peruse a more exaggerated account of the
campaign ? and is this the grand scheme which Mr.
BRIGHT and his friends had in the back-ground
all this time? Are we to remodel ourselves after
the Prussian fashion.
Mr. SMITH thinks that there is " sufficient spirit
and intelligence in his countrymen to work such a
change in the ruling class as will result in the educa-

tion of the whole people, without which he believes
the decadence of our country is inevitable." We
can assure Mr. SMITH that there is a great
deal too much spirit, and a great deal too much
intelligence in the country ever to allow the people
to copy the manners of foreign States, and exchange
all real freedom for their shadow without substance.

The " intelligent men" referred to in Prussia have
not been able to protect their own liberties, or
to possess a Government which respects the
rights of others ; and we are not ambitious of their
glory, nor do we desire to make them all prototypes.
Mr. S3IITH, however, is determined that every one
shall understand the full extent of the evil, and

declares that the ruling class is to blame
, he forthaesiksg-,
ig-
norance of the people. Who are they .
and then he answers his own question, " Why
there can be no doubt about that. They are the
same class who enacted and maintained the wicked
Corn Laws, and who even in the last Session of
Parliament passed this no less wicked Cattle Plague
Bill—the landowners." Such language defeats
itself, and shows how people can be misled when
they get a crotchet into their heads. Mr. SMITH'S
letters do him no credit, and have only made his
case out worse than it was originally. Every one
may make a mistake, but they need not persist in
abuse that has no foundation for its violence.

Mr. BRIGHT makes so many charges and com-
ments on things and persons in so unguarded a
manner that it is hard work to follow him, and to
study the replies and indignant rejoinders he natu-
rally meets with in all directions. The Bishop of
OXFORD has been the last to come forward and re-
pudiate his statements. It will be remembered that,
in his speech. at Glasgow, Mr. BRIGHT became
very excited upon the subject of education, and
connecting it, as he does everything unsatis-
factory, with the vices and follies of the upper
classes, he gave a dreadful account of the ignorance
that prevailed in the neighbourhood of Windsor,
and he filled up his sketch of this " helpless poverty
and ignorance" in so emphatic a manner that cries
of " Shame" were heard among his audience. Now
this is a most unfair thing on Mr. BRIGHT'S part.
lie takes one-sided views of things in some cases ;
he dresses up or exaggerates facts in others ; and in
some, as in this matter here alluded to, he makes

The full report of Lord NAPIER'S experiences
during his late tour in the famine districts of India
will be read with very great interest in this country.
Hislordship deals with the subject in the most com-
prehensive manner, showing us the habits and pecu-
liarities of different classes who suffer from the
famine, and the manner and degree in which it
presses upon each.. Lord NAPIER examines first into .
the extent and severity of the famine. Secondly,
he records the remedial measuresadopintetdo btyhtelie causes
Go-
vernment; and, thirdly, he inquires
of the scarcity and the possibility e offamaivneertiisngsu
such
catastrophes for the future.
fortu-
nately confined within a limitedareat,erbruibtllenhdaiavoisc
so thickly peopled that it has played
notwithstanding. The area in Ganjaur maoy contail], Lord NAPIER estimates, about 250,00
inha-
bitants ; but the portion in which the scarcity has
risen to the pitch of starvation does not m
more than 120,000. The greater part of the afflicted
district belongs to Zemiudary estates, with which
the Government has no direct relation. The popu-
lation may be divided into four classes :-1. The
ryots ; 2. The coolies ; 3. The vagrants ; 4. The
small traders and mechanics in the towns. Of these
the ryots, according to Lord NAPIER'S account, are
both the most deserving-and the greatest sufferers.
They are prevented by the restrictions of their caste
from crowding the relief houses like the lower orders,
and the necessities of their occupation as cultivators
of the soil prevent them from removing like others
from place to place. The ryot occupies in his own
country mu€h the same rank as au English farmer,
and values his social position very highly. With
true Hindoo patience and dignity these men and their
families have suffered the gradual approach of ruin
and famine combined until, during Lord NAPIER'S
tour, they were suffering from the horrors of star-
vation in its
_several degrees, "There can be no

erroneous statements ; but in every instance he has
all the talk to himself—there can be no reply
at the time, and thus the full effect of his elo-
quence is not marred when he wants to
come out with great eclat. Those who hear the
assertion do not hear the contradiction, or if they
do pay very little heed to it ; but what Mr. BRIGHT
gains in making a grand coup at the time, he loses
subsequently in the estimation of lovers of justice
and fair play. We are always glad when any one
will take the trouble to investigate his most striking
statements, and show the fallacy of those views and
the incompleteness of those conclusions in
which he is constantly rising up in judgment
against all who have the misfortune to be titled
or wealthy. The Bishop of OXFORD states that
he wrote to Mr. BRIGHT to ask for information
about his declarations, as the scene of this ignorance
was in his diocese, and ho did so in order to learn
if the alleged ignorance existed, and, if so, whether
it was attributable to any neglect of the labourer,
or at "'Windsor Castle," or by the " swarming lords
and squires and established clergy," or in any way
to the " miserable failure of the ruling class which
revels in power and wealth, while at its feet lies a
multitude which it has neglected." The result

of these inquiries has been to show that', doubt," writes Lord NAPIER, on September 1, "of
Mr. BRIGHT'S statement was accurate as to facts, the extremities of distress which they have endured
but completely wrong as to the deduction which h and still endure. Some of the Ooryah cottages I
have myself visited, where destitution and starva-
todrew from them. The cause of the gross ignorance
which Mr. BRIGHT alluded is not to be attribut- tion might be seen in every pathetic and terrible
able to the fault of the lords, squires, and Esta- form. The miserable condition of whole villages
blished clergy who spoil the neighbourhood, in Mr. • was attested by the emaciated appearance of their
BRIGHT'S opinion, but to the fault of the parents. It ading inhabitants, sent in numerous deputations to
Fourteen years ago the father of this hopeful tribe sc elicit help from the Collector at Chetterpore. The
came to live within fifty yards of the Ascot Heath ro ads were full of wretched creatures prostrated on
School, and his ways were good, but nothing could tie earth. In many places I was pursued by cla-
induce him to make his children attend school. m orous crowds, which might be likened to flocks
They were not left to themselves, however, and of skeletons or ghosts." This is indeed a
repeated efforts were made from time to time. The startling picture, and its fidelity is unfortunately
deputy-surveyor of the Woods and Forests, under confirmed by the official report, which, up to the

/I.e of Lord NApIER'S departure, returned the

deaths from starvation at 1,600 ; and this number
does not include the unknown wanderers who have
died in the woods and byeways, or the large number
who have perished from disease and debility, the
direct consequences of want. It affords a singular
instance of the intensity of the Hindoo superstitions
that no amount of hunger will induce the ryot to
slaughter the sacred animal. " The Hindoo peasant
will perish by hunger beside a fat bullock." The failure
of the food crops has not affected the forage, and
the cattle are thriving. In one sense this supersti-
tion is beneficial, since the oxen in India are indis-
pensable to the cultivation of the land, and are
difficult to replace, so that their immunity from
slaughter secures the means of future exertion. The
vagrant or mendicant class are not of course troubled
with any such scruples, but when they have an
opportunity steal and kill oxen and cows. This class
fastened at once upon the relief houses, and whether
from their wandering propensities, greater har-
dihood, or less scruples, they were the least
emaciated of the miserable assemblage. In fact,
Lord Napier says they offered " a vexatious contrast
to the labouring classes who sat beside them and to
the ryots who stood afar off." The coolies or rural
labourers without land have naturally suffered
severely, since the absorption of money in the mere
purchase of food naturally arrested the demand for
labour, and the coolies without savings and without
credit suffered heavily. The same causes affected
the small tradesmen, for business of all kinds in the
towns has been terribly depressed.
The Government latterly has been making great
efforts, though Lord NAPIER does not hesitate
to confess that much valuable time was
lost at the outset, partly from a want of accurate
and detailed information, and partly from a want
of conviction that public health was absolutely neces-
sary. Lord NAPIER, in attempting to extenuate
this negligence, says " Governments are slow be-
lievers in public calamity, and they entertain a jus-
tifiable reluctance to sanction the commencement of
gratuitous relief—a measure of which no one can
foretell economical and moral consequences." But
such a plea can hardly avail, seeing that
at the first rumour of a coming famine it
would have been easy to appoint impartial
commissioners to inquire into the prospects of the
crop, the supplies in reserve, and the prospects of
the people in case of a total failure of the crops.

Had this been done there must have been a better
knowledge at headquarters, and it would have been
possible to have organised an effectual system
of relief before the famine rose to so fright-

'al a height. If all preliminary arrangements
iad been made, and plans decided upon before

hand, it would have been comparatively easy
to have grappled with the disaster, and to have con-
trolled it in some measure. As it is a vast outlay
will have been required. The people have suffered
terribly, the prestige of the Government is weakened,

and the financial effects of the famine will be felt
for some time to come throughout all classes. Lord
NAPIER regards the calamity as in some measure
irremediable, and thinks that no amount of care or
prudence can avoid the risk of occasional famine.
Much, however, may be done, and until the water
supply of India is managed on a totally different
scale from what it is at present, we should be very
unwilling to believe that much cannot be done to
avert such disasters.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(110 M OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Thursday Evening.

The illoniteur has the following important and
satisfactory explanation in regard to the affairs of
the East :

" The latest news received from the island of
Crete states that the insurrection has been appeased.
From the moment that the Turkish Government,
by making the concessions asked for Moustapha
Pacha, did justice to the legitimate demands of the
inhabitants, the insurrectional movement having no
serious cause of support, suffered a certain check.
Three questions have been agitated in the East
during the course of this year—the affairs of the
Principalities, those of Montenegro, and those of
Candia. The first question has been settled in a
manner as satisfactory for Roumania as for the
Porte. The personal relations which have just
been established between the Sultan and the Prince
de Hohenzollern cannot be more satisfactory, and
the prince, on his return to Bucharest, was received
with such cordiality as to prove how the Moldo-
Wallachian populations congratulated themselves
upon the agreement so happily established at Con-
stantinople. The situation of Montenegro is equally
ameliorated. The cause of the constant quarrels
which divided the Turks and the populations of the
Black Mountains was the possession of the con-
tested territories, where the Montenegroes brought
their cattle at the commencement of every spring.
These territories having been given up to them for
the future, there will be no further pretence for con-
flicts ; and it is to be hoped that the relations of
good neighbourhood will succeed the hostile rivalry
which formerly prevailed. As to the affairs of
Crete they may now be arranged in a spirit of wis-
dom and peace. At Athens, as at Constantinople,
the insurrection is considered as terminated. It is
now the province of the Porte to give defini-
tive calm to the public mind, and to grant
retns .
sought
to Thec on Fcrielinact
with benevolent solicitude the reforms promised to
the Ca Government, w h ich
with as
always
French
e the rights of Turkey
the moral and regular progress of the Christian
populations, has contributed by its d a vice to the
solution of the difficulties pending in
its influence has always been
exerted in a pacific and
conciliatory direction."

The Moniteur de A rmee denies the report that the
Army Commission intend to substitute a sort of
of
National Guard for the Regular Army. It d
" It is not at the time when the events just accom-
plished in Europe impose upon the Government of
France the duty of placing her military forces upon
a level with those of neighbouring Powers that there
can be any idea of reducing the effective condition of
the Army. It is to be presumed, on the contrary,
that one of the first resolutions of the Commission
will be to maintain the principle propounded long
since of having an army of 400,000 men in time of
peace. The object of the labours of the Commission
will probably be to consider the means of having a
powerful Reserve, to provide, in case of need, for
the establishment of a respectable effective army on
the war footing."
A letter from Venice, dated November 1, says:-
" It would seem that Venice wishes to forget in a
moment all that was odious in the past. She
breathes liberty with free lungs, newspapers are to
be established, and clubs founded. The Patriotic
Club iscin course of formation. Its object is the
increase of strength, of welfare, and national glory
by all legitimate means. There is also an electoral
association to procure freedom and purity of elec-
tion, With all this excitement Venice is quite tran-

quil, and there is not a single police agent or Muni-
cipal Guard. The case was very different under the
rule of Austria."

A funeral mass was celebrated on Tuesday at the
church of St. Rock for the victims of the Evening
Star. The church was completely filled, and sorrow
was depicted on every countenance. Scarcely an
actor of Paris was absent. All, or nearly all, the
unfortunate artists who perished in that great dis-
aster had friends among the theatrical world o
Paris. Such was the affliction among relatives and
friends that many ladies fainted, and it was neces-
sary to carry them out of the church. One poor
old woman, who was present, said the shipwreck
had deprived her of her son, her daughter, and
granddaughter, and now she was without resources.
A similar service had been celebrated at Havre, at the
church of Notre Dame, which was covered with
mourning cloth. All classes have responded to the
appeal made by the artists on behalf of the victims.
Many naval officers were present at the church. A
collection was made by the theatrical profession
which realised about 400 f. There has also been a
subscription in the town. The amount is to be sent
to Baron Taylor, President of the Society of Dra-
matic Artists, who is to distribute the money exclu-
sively among the orphans of the artists who perished
in the Evening Star.
The death is announced of Colonel de Quelen,
the brother of the Archbishop of Paris, who died
in the year 1839. The father of the present Arch-
bishop of Paris, M. Darboy, has just died, aged 87.
It is only two months since his mother died.
The Turkish Colonel Risk-Allah, whose trial at
Brussels excited so much interest, has arrived at
Paris. His defence was rather an expensive affair.
It is said that he gave 20,000 f. to each of his two
counsel. One of the counsel for the prosecution
received 15,000 f. and the other 5,000 f.

The construction of the Palace of the Exhibition
is so far advanced that a general idea may now be
formed of it. It will have the aspect of a gigantic
Coliseum in the middle of the park. It will be of
immense rectangular form, 110 metres long by 384
metres in width, terminating at its two extremities by
half-circles of 384 metres in diameter. The surface
it will cover will be to the extent of 16 hectares,
corresponding with a side space of 400 square metres.
It will have a series of concentric galleries, and in
the centre a garden of half a hectare. There will be
13 circular galleries. The machine gallery will be
36 metres wide. The succeeding galleries will be 23
metres wide. There will be a profusion of light ;
and the engineer has paid great attention to the
means of supplying fresh air. The drainage will be
upon the most approved system. The general
masonry of the Palace comprises 52,000 cubic
metres, of which 37,000 are for the foundations,
10,000 for the Gallery of Fine Arts, and 5,000 for
the walls connected with the machine gallery. The
vaulted cellars have a development of 1,300 metres.
The windows of the great machine gallery have re-
quired 45,000 square metres of glass. The engineer-
ing works have been admirably carried out under the
direction of M. Kranz, head engineer of bridges and
highways. The works at the park are under the
direction of M. Alphand, engineer in chief of the
plantations and promenades of the city. The extent
of the park will be nearly 30 hectares.
The ironclad fleet, under the command of Vice-
Admiral Baron La Ronciere Le Noury, has returned
to Cherbourg from Brest. The frigate Magnanime,
forming part of the division, has sailed for Brest to
replace the Invincible. It was on board this frigate
that experiments have been made with the new
pieces of
.artillery which fire steel projectiles weigh-
ing nearly 3001 b. English. The Magnanime is of
1,000-horse power nominal, but during recent ex-
periments Ith.d an effective power of 3,000, and
made more than 13 knots an hour.

Among the subscribers to the fund for the relief
of the sufferers by the inundations is M. Alexandre
Blanc for 20,000 f. The generous donor is the
nephew of M. Francois Blanc, well known in the
financial world. M. Blanc gave his nephew 20,000 f.
to buy horses, and the latter sent the money to the
inundation fund, remarking that he wished to cona-
memorate;his entrance into life and business by doing
a good action.

I think in my letter, yesterday, I omitted to men-
tion the title of the song of M. Rouget de l'lsle,
the author of the " Marseillaise." It is well to
supply the omission, for the title marks an
epoch. The song is called the " Song of Venge-
ance." The name given to it shows the feeling
prevalent at the time towards the English. 'What
a happy change has come over the spirit of both
nations! Then the aspiration was for vengeance.
Now it is for the entente cordiale.

Mr. Bright and Physical Force.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—There seems to be considerable misappre-
hension about Mr. Bright advocating physical force
in his speech at Manchester, a short time since ; and
you, sir, must be labouring under a mistake, or you
owouldteto
a
not in
Reformyour L
eage
yesterday's impression, in a f oot-
oparagraph, have stated,
when referring to the piece of wood being thrown at
Mr. Bright's head, in Dublin--‘4 Certainly taking
Mr. Bright at his word in the advocacy of physical
force doctrines." Now Mr. Bright has never ad-
vocated physical force as a means of obtaining poli-
tical freedom. This was the sentence he uttered at
Manchester :—,4 It is no more immoral for a people
to use force, in the last resort, for the obtaining and
securing of freedom than it is for a Government to
use force to suppress and deny that freedom."
Mr. Bright neither justifies the Government in the
use of force to destroy freedom, nor justifies the people
to use force for the acquisition of freedom. In
fact he must look upon both as more or less im-
moral. Freedom is a precious inheritance, and if
it be immoral on the part of a Government 'to
strangle it by force, it cannot be more immoral on
the part of a people to extend it or to preserve it by
force. Mr. Bright only attempted to establish a
comparison between the immoral use of force by the
Government or the people. And for doing this
he has been misrepresented and reviled. Our brave
forefathers, during the memorable reign of Charles
the First, thought it immoral on the part of the
Government to suppress freedom by force, and
moved, on the part of the Parliamentary party, to
meet force by force. Were freedom a mischievous
or even a questionable thing, then it might be moral
on the part of the Government to deny it and im-
moral on the part of the people to demand it with
force. But all Englishmen admit that freedom is a
good thing, though they are not all agreed on the
amount which could be rightfully used and enjoyed.
If it be a good thing, then Mr. Bright was right in
uttering the sentence I have quoted—a sentence
which, for its terseness, comprehensiveness, and
truthfulness, will long be remembered by English-
men.—Yours respectfully,
PASSMORE EDWARDS.

[* Precisely. But the inference clearly implied, as de
ducible from those words —or they were words, in point
of fact, of mere "sound and 'fury
signifying nothing"—the
inference implied, as deducible from those words, was
clearly this, that as Government suppressed and denied
Freedom by Force, so (immorally, if you will, but quite as
justifiably) might a people so denied their Freedom obtain
and secure it "in the last resort"--by Force ! Those words
of Mr. Bright meant that—or they meant Nothing.]

The Sport states that the Count de Flandre has
taken the right wing of the Grand Hotel at Paris for four
months, during the Unfversal Exhibition of 1867.
THE REPRESENTATION OF PEMBROKESHIRE.—
By the death of Mr. G. Lort Phillips a vacancy
occurs for the representation of this county. Mr. Phillips
was returned in 1861 by a majority of nearly 200 over the
Liberal candidate, Sir Hugh Owen, now M.P. for the Pem-
broke boroughs. The Conservatives have already selected
Mr. J. B. Bowon, of Llwyngwair, as their candidate for the
vacant seat, and he has issued an address in which he states
he is in favour of a Reform Bill that will satisfy the just
and reasonable expectations of the country. As regards
church-rates, the settlement of the question, in his opinion,
requires mutual forbearance and concession. The Hon.
Captain Edwardes, son of Lord Kensington, the Lord-
Lieutenant of the county, is expected to be the chosen of
the Liberal parry, and there is no doubt that the contest
will be a close one. It was originally thought that Mr.
Scourfield, the member for Haverfordwest, would have
vacated his seat for the purpose of coining forward for the
county, and had that been the case the Liberals were pre-
pared to contest both beats.