The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-14 00:00:00

ebtrlt MUttion

THE FUNDS-(C

OSING PRICES)

BRITISH FUNDS.
Bank Stock et div. Ditto Bonds £1,000...... 78 Pm.
3 per Cent. Red ......... ...... 99% Ditto under £l,OOO 75 pm.
3 per Cent. Cons. ..... ....... 100% South Sea Stock
3%6 per Cent. Red — Ditto Old Annuities ...
New 3U per Cent.... ......
New 5 per Cent.......
Long Annuities to expire Ditto 5001...„....„.„.. 59 Pm.
Jan. 5860 l2 Ditto 5ma11.... ........ ... 53 pm.
Oct. 1859 ll% 13-16 Bank Stock for Acct.... fi.01%
Jan. 1860 l2 5-16 Consols for Act ..... ... DAN
Indian Stock India Stock for Acct....
FOREIGN FUNDS.
Austrian, 5 per Cent 112% Russian, 5 per Cent IIBN
Belgian, 5 per Cent.....„..... Ditto, Metallic —
Brazilian; Bonds ..... ~ ...... Vanish, 5 per Cent., 1840 24%
Buenos Ayres, 6 per Cent... Ditto, 1841........ —
Cuba Bonds, 6 per Cent Ditto, 1842 —
Chinni, 6 per Cent ............ 102 Ditto, Mg— .......
Colombian, 8 per Cent ...... 14 Ditto, 1844 ..... ..... ......
Danish, 3 per Cent
Greek, 18..5, 5 per Cent...- — Venezuela Bonds, 2 per Ct...
Mexican, 5 per Cent
Neapolitan Bonds, 5 per Ct — French, 3 per C0nt..... —f. —,.
Prussian Bonds, 4 per Cent — Exchange
Peruvian Bonds, 6 per Ct... Dutch, 2% per Cent
Portuguese Bonds, 5 per Ct Ditto,:s per Cent ... 99

_
SHARES.
Birmingham and Gloucester (100 paid)........" lOO
Bristol and Gloucester, 30 paid
Chester and Holyhead ( 5 paid)
Direct Northern, 234 paid
Eastern Counties (25 paid) ...................
Edinburgh and Glasgow, 50 paid
Great Western (75 paid)
London and Birmingham (Stock) .... ...... ......
London and Brighton (50 paid)
Ditto Loan Notes, 10 paid 113%
London and Croydon
Lynn and Ely, 134 paid
Midland (100 paid)
Newcastle and Darlingron Junction, 21 paid
North British, 5 paid . 5
Norwich and Brandon, 6 paid lO
Trent Valley, 2 paid .: 7%
York and North Midland (50 paid) —
Ditto Half Shares (25 paid)
Ditto, Selby Scrip, 20 paid 79
Orleays and Vierzon, 2 paid .. 914,
Orleans .and Bourdeaux, 1 paid .............. ......... 3%
?aria and Orleans (20 paid)
Paris and Roues. 20 paid ... .............. ................ 3S3i
Rouen and Havre, IV paid 2234

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
GLOBE.—Considerable dissatisfaction has been caused
by the course adopted by Mr. Broughton, one of the ma-
gistrates of Worship-street Police-office, in a case of
assault which a few days since came before him. The
circumstances were peculiar ; and the magistrate's de-
cision was, in our view, a practical denial of justice to the
complainant. The assault was committed by the school,
mistress of Bethnal-green workhouse on a female child of
tender years, whom she had severely beaten for going
into the scullery for water to drink with her supper
water not being allowed in the meal-room, as it had
been occasionally spilt by the children on the table and
on the floor ; and the door leading to the place whence
the children were permitted to obtain it being locked.
The question for the magistrate's decision did not hinge
upon the authority of the schoolmistress to inflict mod-
rate punishment, in proper cases, upon the children
placed nnderfier charge by the parish authorities ; nor
whether, for the breach of the regulations of the
house, in the present instance, a trifling punishment
might not have been inflicted by the woman upon the
child. The real question was, whether such a punish-
ment, inflicted on a mere child, as blows of the fist
upon its face and back, causing bruises and discoloura-
tion for several days, was justifiable under any circum-
stances ? The parents of the child were also inmates of
the workhouse. The mother appeared as complainant.
The violent treatment which her child had received at
the hands of the woman was proved beyond contro
versy. Mr. Broughton himself considered the case
as proved. He stated that, in his opinion, the punish-
ment was inordinately severe, and could not be justified.
This was, then, just such a case as called for the exer-
cise of the magistrate's power of summary jurisdiction.
The complainant was too poor to incur expense in pro-
secuting the defendant at the sessions, and therefore
had a strong claim on the magistrate for an imme-
diate adjudication, The position of the defendant also
required that a check should be at once put upon the
indulgence of those feelings which had occasioned
her attack upon the chilli. Yet in this case, which de-
manded immediate decision, the magistrate determined
on delay. He cal!sd upon the defendant to enter into
recognisacces to meet the charge' at the sessions, should
the complainant prefer a bill, and IN grand jury return
it found. The master of the workhous.'s who attended
to assist the defendant in meeting the charize before the
magistrate, exulted at this decision; while the poor woman
who complained of the ill-treatment of her child saw je it a
practical denial of justice. The formers emarked, "That is
just what we wanted, Sir 1" To be sure it was. It was
tantamount to a dismissal of the charge. It was like
sending the poor complainant to a tavern, telling her that
she might there obtain a delicious dinner, %ell know-
ing that she had not a penny in her pocket, and would
therefore be sent empty away. The poor woman ven-
tured to expostulate. She had no money ; how then
could she go to the sessions, and take the necessary
steps to indict the schoolmistress for the vio-
lent treatment of her child ? This reasonable and
forcible appeal was thus answered :—" Surely you
have friends who will assist you in the matter." A
pauper's friends ! The pauper-inmates of a workhouse
are not precisely the kind of people who have friends ca-
pable of furnishing them with money to pay the fees of
justice. The possession of such friends would preserve
them from seeking refuge in a workhouse—that last' re-
fuge of the miserable. The poor woman retired from
the Court, with her child, sighing, "We have no
friends and feeling that " the world was not
their friend, nor the world's law." On re-
turning to the workhouse, she was made to feel that to
appeal to the law's protection against the violence of
the authorities of the place, is not only useless, but
dangerous. Her children and herself were removed
from the, wards they had previously occupied in
the house, and were placed in the " approbation ward ;'•
to which the applicants for reception to the house are
first introduced, previously to their regular admission.
The state of personal filthiness, and frequently of disease,
in which such persons generally are when they first en-
ter a workhouse, need not be described. The mother and
her child who had been punished with extreme severity
by the workhouse schoolmistress, were doubtless trans-
ferred to this ward to admonish others of the consequences
of preferring complaints. Whatever provocation to com-
plain may be supplied by those who have in their own
hands the means of retaliating, the sufferers had better
patiently endure wrong, than risk the consequences of
seeking redress. These poor people, unable to endure
the annoyance of being placed in such a ward, discharged
themselves from the house. The woman again attended
the police-office, and again complained of the treatment
she had received, as a punishment for having com•
plained of the tyrannous and cruel treatment of her
child. The magistrate had no power to interfere. The
poor creatures had no means of supporting themselves
outside the workhouse ; and said they must return
thither, and henceforth submit in silence to whatever
treatment they might there receive. Surely there is
some mode of redress, even for paupers, for wrongs
such as we have described. If the Board of Guardians
of the parish be supine or indifferent, the inabitants
should meet and require of the parish officers
au investigation into the general government
of their workhouse, and into the circumstances of
the case we have eescribed. If the facts really be as they
were sworn to, and uncontradicted, before the magis-
trate, the schoolmistress should be placed on her trial for
the assault, before the tribunal to which the magistrate
needlessly, and as we think improperly, referred it.
STANDARD.—There is a growing disposition on
the part of certain pseudo-philanthropists to represent
the higher classes of society as more insensible to the
condition of the poor than they were wont to be in,
what young Englanders are pleased to entitle, the "good
old times." Every casualty to the poor that may happen
to be recorded in the newspapers, is seized upon
by these modern philosophers, as a fresh illustration
of the correctness of their theory. One or more
suicides had recently cccurred in the humblest
walks of life, arising, it is said, from extreme destitution,
and these catastrophes are referred to, ad nauseam,
as instructive evidence of the insensibility of the
rich to the condition of the poor. No inference can
be less warranted. The columns of the daily press
must have convinced all readers of newspapers of
the fact, that no genuine case of distress is ever
recorded in their columns which does not command
instant and liberal relief. In the vast aggregate
of human misery which is to be found in large towns, the
most distressing cases of poverty' and destitution are
often those which are most carefully concealed
from public observation ; and men of wealth, how-
ever benevolent, most of whom are liberal con-
tributors to public charitable institutions, have
often neither the leisure nor means of hunting
out such cases. We caw affirm, however, with
the utmost confidence, that there is no nation
on the face of the earth in which more of active charity
fewhichn
g set exhibitseu r
fellow-creatures,
lleawr e an e
re a t
uramountes whether
t shyer m
this to be found than in England, nor any city whatever
paethyyhfoarvethaerissuefn-
from penury. or disease, than this same much-reviled
City of London. Persons whose knowledge of the extent
of public sympathy is derived from the columns of
some of our Contemporaries, must have long
ago inferred, that there is in England, and in London in
particular, a most uischristian disregard of the feelings
and comforts of the humbler classes. Yet is there hardly
day in which meetings of its busiest inhabisants, of the
higher and middle orders, are not convened for the
purpose of forming permanent institutions for the re-
lief of sufferers of all denominations. There is in
Loidon alone, and we challenge contradiction to the
fact, more money collected for the relief of the distressed
in one year, than is contributed for any similar objects in
any other city in the world. There is hardly a disease
which has not given rise to some valuable public insti-
tution, where the poor, could they divest themselves of
the prejudice which, unhappily, influences them on
many subjects, may have the benefit of greater skill
and more unceasing attention than can readily be
.obtained by the wealthiest member of the community at
home ; the combination of skill usually afforded gra-
tuitously in a public institution, and the rigid sys-
tem of attendance which is provided, being greatly
beyong the advantages which any private establish-
ment of moderate extent could by any possibility
supply. Yet one of the most prevalent " vulgar er-