The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-08 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING,

were the symptoms of the miserable woman, who was
at the time far advanced in pregnancy, and certainly
it did not appear to require much medical skill to
ascertain the truth and accuracy of her statement.
It was eminently a case fir restoratives, for warm and
generous food and nourishment. The aurgeon at
once gave a written order for her relief, which he
gave to her sister, the woman being too weak to
attend to herself. She proceeded to the workhouse;
it appeared she was two hours going, although the
distance was scarcely a quarter of a mile, in fact,
she could not walk without taking some person's
arm. On arriving at the place of shelter and refuge,
she was, however, denied the assistance so urgently
required. She went into the board-room with a
paper in her hand, supposed to be the order which the
medical officer swore he had given, but of which the
prisoner denied the receipt, and which did not ap-
pear on the file where such documents were usually
deposited. In place, however, of receiving aid
and nourishment, she was roughly told that " she
would get nothing there but the tramp-house, and
that on the following morning she should take herself
off." She was then taken to the miserable shed, kept
for the accommodation of the casual poor, where she
was kept without food, fire, or clothing, on a most
inclement night. There was no fire-place or beds in
the tramp-house, nothing but straw, and that was all
given to a woman suffering under symptoms such as
we have described, and in a situation that should
have excited the sympathy and compassion of every
person possessed of the commonest feelings of hu-
manity. Some time afterwards one of the reliev-
ing officers, who happened to be at the
workhouse on out-door business, had his
attention called to a woman who was sick in the
tramp-house. He procured a lantern, and saw the
deceased and her child, and at once perceived the ne-
cessity of something being done. He told the pri-
soner that " it would be better to relieve her," but
was answered that " she was one of the impostors
that very much abounded." No food.was given, but
she was handed an order for a bed at 1331VJOHN'S,
which was at a distance of three-quarters of a mile.
She was found at nine o'clock in the streets by her
sister, who assisted her to the place, where she ob-
tained a bed, but no other relief; four or five hours
having elapsed while she was detained in the tramp-
house and the streets. She was obliged to leave even
that shelter the next morning, and again applied at
the workhouse, having had nothing to eat in the in-
terim. The second application had no better result
than the former, for on that occasion she did not even
obtain admission to the tramp-house or a bed at Bow-
es:sures. Her sister, who was scarcely better off than
herself, borrowed twopence to pay for a miserable
lodging that night, but no food was given to
the starving creature. On the following day
she afforded the most powerful evidence of
the accuracy of her " ower true statement,"
and death, more kind than the Poor-law officers,
relieved her from her misery and sufferings. We
shall not enter into the painful details of the post
mortem examination ; sufficient appeared to show
that she had indeed died of starvation, and this under
our much lauded Constitution, which affords a right
:o every destitute person to receive support and main-
:enance.

Another circumstance came out in the course of
the trial which showed that the guardians them-
selves were in some degree responsible for the occur-
rence. The wretched woman had, it appears, been in
receipt of ls. per week as out-door relief, and she had
managed to support existence on that miserable pittance.
An anonymous letter was, however, received, stating
that she was in receipt of 30s. a week. The surgeon
did not believe this statement, but he advised the
guardians to act on it, by diminishing her allowance,
and thus, on no better evidence than the whispered
insinuation of some malignant scoundrel, was the
rule adopted that led to the death of the unfortunate
ELIZABETH BIGGS. We cannot conclude without
again expressing an earnest hope that the entire cir
cnmstances of this melancholy case will long be
borne in mind by guardians, medical and relieving-
officers, and that it will constitute a valuable lesson
for the guidance of these functionaries.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Legitimatists are bitterly disappointed at the
result of the preliminary ballot of the Union Rec-
torate. Not one of their candidates has been chosen,
and their organs are already advocating the pro-
priety of breaking faith with the other contracting
parties to the Union Electorate, and setting up some
candidates of their own; others of the party, how-
ever, who are perfectly aware that alone they stand
no chance, propose that the Legitimatists should vote
for the Socialist list. In acting thus it must be ad-
mitted that the Legitimatists would not be, in reality,
so inconsistent as might at first sight appear. The
first name on the Socialist list is that of the Vicomte
DE FLOTTE, a ci decant aristocrat and Legitimatist,
who was sentenced to transportation as one of the in-
surgents of June, but afterwards pardoned by the PRE-
SIDENT of the Republic. Indeed it is evident that in the
outbreak of June, 1848, there was complete solidarite
between the Legitimatists and the Socialists, the
latter finding bone and muscle and sinew, and the
former money. The rich Legitimatists, however,
had the cunning, when it became evident that the
attempt could not succeed, to sneak off and leave the
unfortunate Socialists in the lurch.

On Wednesday the Bureaux examined the demand
of the Attorney-General for permission to prosecute
M. Mum. (de Bourges). Of the Committee
chosen, nine were in favour of the prosecution, and
six against it. It is said that the Commissary of
Police had committed the mistake of attributing to M.
MICHEL (de Bourges) words, which had been ut-
tered by some one else.
The Alsacicn of Strasburg states that the first
nucleus cf the army of the East is already forming
in that city. Two regiments are already on their
march for that city from Lyons.
La Liberte contains the following paragraph with
reference to Rome :

" Our private information leads us to believe that the
return of Pius IX. to his capital will be made subordi-
nate to his adhesion to the policy of the French Go-
from that moment that the partial
ithldtrias owanll>Of our soldiers from Rome will take
eov
teryr:tcomt
.t,,ael 1:1
wt.

The Abbe ToIGNE was convicted, before the Court
of Assize of Toulon on the 2d instant, for having
published an immoral and blasphemous libel called
the Mysteries of the Confessional. He was sen-
tenced to imprisonment for 10 months, and to pay
600 f. fine.

A letter from Lyons, of the 4th instant, states that
the 7th and 19th Regiments of the Line, forming half
of the garrison of that city, have received orders to
proceed to the eastern frontier. They are to be re-
placed by the 13th and 17th Regiments of the Line
from Rome.

PARIS BOURSE, MARCH 6.—Lecst Prices :—Five rer
Cents, 93k. 70c.; Three per Cents., 58C.; Bank of France,
2,290 f.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, MARCH 7.
Boulogne and Amiens, 7 Central of France (Orleans
and Vierzon), 13 Northern of Francs, 1311 Orleans
and Bordeaux, 31A—East Indian, 55.4—Namur and Liege,
VA—Sambre and Meuse, 21A.