The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-25 00:00:00

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either to have dashed it against hecsi -es dr,o, .
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have reformed it in such fashion hiiiF;i4s_4. tW" I\v,:e,,
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lies would not have known the 411:1c4a ,;.::.,.,, ; ' 1.(.4
Mr. Gladstone cannot go with g?itittli- .;;:/e,:iii: )54 '
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uneasy in it, it is not his going, n lit
MB -therefore distrusts it, and pu 410)414%,..,
other way. How often have we seen hie esonipin`iw
from a current to go round and round swirlinl in
an eddy, where he has to circle all to himself. He
seems to have settled it in his mind that the mass
of people always think wrong, and to quarrel with
his own opinions when he finds the world backing
them, dishonouring them, as it were, with accept-
ance. Hence we expect to find in the Chancellor
of the Exchequer before long a vehement advocate
of the income tax, not only as a thing of necessity,
but also as one ofmuch grace and virtue, teres atgue
rotundus. And this he will do conscientiously.
For it is the peculiarity of Mr. Gladstone's mind
that ho is never at a loss for reasons for any conclu-
sion at which it is his will to arrive. He is a
consummate advocate at the bar of his own con-
science. As in mechanics action and reaction are
equal and contrary, so in his mind arguments
are equal and contrary, and as much is to be
said for as against any given question. He finds
both bad and good in everything by turns,
always in opposition to the stream. And now
that the House has shown a disposition to revolt
against the iniquities of the income tax we may
expect of Mr. Gladstone a most fervent attach-
ment to the abomination, and not the less but
all the more for his former antipathy, such re-
pugnances when once overcome giving place to
the strongest likings.—Examiner.

TEE LATE DISTRESS IN THE

METROPOLIS.

At the close of the business of the Mansion-house
Police court on Saturday, the Lord Mayor made the
following statement relative to the amount of
money sent to him for charitable purposes during
the Cate inclement weather, and the manner in
which it had been disposed of.
His LORDSHIP said that as all the accounts had
now been made up in reference to the late tem-
porary distress in the metropolis,;he should be glad
to make publicly a short statement relating to the
receipts and disbursements. A large amount of
money was confided to him by charitable persons
during the severity of the frost, at a time when all
labour upon end along the shores of the river was
entirely suspended. The barges were frozen in,
there was no communication between the ships and
the. several wharves, and the result was that
thousands of labourers were thrown out of work,
not only by reason of the river traffic being sus-
pended, but that this, at the same time, caused a
vast diminution in the demand for labour on shore,
and the consequence was there arose a terrible
cry of distress. The response of the public to that
cry was most gratifying, and it showed the pro-
digious amount of. latent benevolence that existed
not only in this country but also in foreign coun-
tries. When the statements relative to the distress
that existed in the metropolis were made public,
he had the gratification of receiving letters from the
editors of two French newspapers published in
Parisoilk which the writers expressed their intention
of making an appeal to the French public to relieve •
the terrible distress that was stated to exist among
the labouring population of this metropolis, and
one of the letters enclosed a bank note for a
thousand francs, as a portion of the contribution.
At this period the frost had commenced breaking
up, and ho had thought fit to announce publicly
from the bench that he did not any longer require
the contributions of the public, and that he should
cease to administer any further relief, as the river
was cleared, the frost had apparently departed, and
the state of things in the metropolis had returned to
something like their normal condition. The amount.
of money that was received had enabled him to afford
assistance to 3,241 persons, each of whom repre-
sented a family ; and besides that he had given
£lO7 to various soup kitchens, and other charities
of a like kind, for the distribution of coals, bread,
and meat to the poor. He should state also, that
after having made the public announcement he had
referred to, the Court still continued for some time
to administer relief in very urgent cases that were
brought to its notice. When all this had been
done, however, there still, through the munificence
of the public, remained a sum of between £6OO and
£7OO, and it was thought better to keep this in
hand for a short time, in order to see whether the
frost had departed, or whether there was any pro-
bability of its return. Within the last few days it
was thought that the time had come when this
money might be distributed, and to consider which
was the best mode to apply it, so as to carry out
the benevolent intentions of the donors. The money
could not be returned to the parties who sent it,
because they did not know who it came from—it
was nearly all sent anonymously—by persons who
appeared desirous of emulating the good they
were doing, and upon careful consideration he felt
that the best mode of making use of this money
was to distribute it among some of the deserving
charities of the metropolis, and he had now to an-
nounce that this had been done to the extent of
£645. His lordship then read the following state-
'ment as to the manner in which the money had
been disbursed :—"ln the month of January there
was given to 3,248 distressed families and persons,
in small sums varping from 2s. 6d. to 405., £1,158 ;
to various soup, meat, and other charities, £l22
total £1,280. The greater part of the balance that
then remained was divided among the following
charities :—City Kitchen, £l5; Houseless Poor,
£3O; Field-lane Refuge, £3O; City Dispensary,
£l5 ; Metropolitan Dispensary, £l5 ; Finsbury
Dispensary, £l5 ; Farringdon Dispensary, £l5 ;
London Philanthropic Society, £25 ; Truss
Society, £2O; London Hospital, £5O ; Poplar
Hospital, £5O ; Free Hospital, Gray's Inn-
lane, £3O ; Free Hospital, Devonshire-square,
£3O ; Consumption Hospital, Brompton, £3O ; Con-
sumption Hospital Victoria-park, £3O; Ophthalmic
Hospital, City, £2O ; Ophthalmic Hospital, Gray's
Inn-road, £2O ; Seamen's Hospital, £3O ; Sea
Bathing Infirmary, £3O; Home in the East, £3O;
Societe de Bienfaisance, £2O ; Shipwrecked
Mariners' Society, £2O ; Euston-road Industrial
School, £2O ; Euston-road Reformatory, £2O ;
Spitalfields Weavers' Asylum, £2O; Bishopsgate
Soup Kitchen, £lO ; Ann's-place, and Bow-road
Soup Kitchen, £5; total to different charities,
£645." His lordship proceeded to state that these
amounts represented a total sum of £1,945 that
had been applied to charitable objects through the
munificence of the public, and it would leave a
small sum in the poor-box that would be quite
sufficient for its ordinary requirements. This was
the mode in which the money had been disbursed,
and he was anxious that the public should know
how he had exercised the trust that had been re-
posed in him. If he said that he (the Lord Mayor)
had done it, he was wrong. He never could have
accomplished the task if he had not been aided by
the assistance and sound judgment of Mr. Good-
man, the chief clerk, and also that of Mr. Picker-
ing, the accountant; and when he stated that the
accounts extended over 180 pages, and filled two
books, the public would at once see the amount of
labour that had been cast upon the last-mentioned
gentleman. He also felt it to be his duty at the
same time to say that he was very much indebted
to the Commissioner of Police, and to his officers
for the assistance they had rendered and the careful
inquiries they had made with a view to prevent
unworthy objects from sharing in the fund intended
for really distressed persons. As he had stated on
a former occasion the applications for assistance
were properly classified, and the great number of
letters that were brought back and reported to
have come from unworthy persons, showed the
great importance of the inquiries that were made
by the police. All he could say for himself
was, that he had endeavoured to do all
he could to distribute the funds among deserving
persons, and he hoped the public would be satisfied
ro.
that their money had been faithfully and
faithfully
g
perly applied, and he trusted that it. would be vet
raise. It
long before a similar occurrence
svoemdlneointhtahte
pthoeorfulanwe;
had, he believed, been said
beyol
tion of relieving the poor de
and that all that was necessary could have been
done through the instrumentality of the different i
guardians, and a gentleman of great
boards of with the administration of
Furd
experience in-
had connexion
expressed an opinion that the
the poor law
money been might have disbursed by the
guardians
I a
in
better manner. Ihe money that was sent by
the public to this court could not, however, have
been so applied. He had no right to send it to any
other channel for distribution, and he would state
at the same time that, although no doubt it was very
Probable they had given relief to some parties who
ought, possibly, to have gone to the union, yet he
was certain, at the same time, that they would
rather have starved than have done so, and he hoped
that the poor-box of the Al.' •
ansionHouse would
always be in such a condition as to enable them to
relieve a poor man without forcing •
him to submit
to the degradation of being compelled to go into
the union workhouse. His lordshi •
p then said that
the receipt of the letters from Paris that he had
referred to gave him very great satisfaction, and he
had no doubt that, but for the intimation he had
given that no more funds would be required, a very
large sum would have been received from the appeal
that was intended to have been made to the bene-
volence of the inhabitants of the city of Paris, and
he had thought it right, under the circumstances,
to give half of the blllll that had been transmitted to
him from the gentlemen referred to, to a foreign
charitable institution—the Societe de Bienfaisance,
thinking that the benevolent donors would probably
not have been satisfied if he had devoted the whole
sum to that object.