The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-27 00:00:00

THE DIPLOMATIC SE TWICE.

Mr. LAIIOUCHERE moved that, in the opinion of this
house, all sums required to defray the expenses of the
diplomatic service ought to be annualiy vote•l by Parlia-
ment, and that estimates of all such su-us ought to be sub-
mitted in a form that wonl•I admit of their effectual
supervision and control by that lions The hon. member
referred to a number of cases in which pensions were now
paid, although the recipients were not beyond rendering
further service to the country. He also condemned the
system of sending expensive missions abroad for the in-
vesting certain persons with the Order of the Garter,
which he thought could vary well be done by the am-
bassadors resident at the places. It was very pleasant,
no doubt, to the noblemen selected to go out on such ,
business, but it was nut so to the tax-
payers. (Hear, hear.) He also thought the system of
agencies, as at present carried out at the Foreign-office,
was highly objectionable, and ought to be abolished.
Lord STANLEY said some of the recipients of pen-
sions alluded to by the hon. gentleman had retired as long
as thirty years ago, but he was not responsible for more
than three of the pensions alluded to. The greatest en-
deavour was made at the Foreign-office to keep down the
expenditure, but ho could not consent to the cutting down
the salaries of those who had left the country on the un-
derstanding that a certain sum would be paid for their
services. The rule was to place at the disposal of the Fo-
reign office a lump sum of .£1.80,000, with the understand-
ing that there was not to be any further money voted for
diplomatic service. If the expenditure of that sum was
questioned, it was open to bring the whole subject under
the consideration of the house. He must oppose the mo-
tion of the hon. gentleman opposite.
Mr. CHILDERS regretted that the noble lord had
thought it his duty to oppose the motion of the hon. mem-
ber for Middlesex. He thought that there was much in
the present system that might be altered with advantage
to all parties, and therefore he had hoped that a different
course would have been adopted.
Mr. D. Griffith and Mr. Alderman Lusk supported the
motion, and Mr. W. Lowther also made some observations
• correcting exaggerations of Mr. Labouchere.
On a division the motion was carried by 76 to 72.

The subject of accidents iu coal mines was brought be-
fore the house by Mr. GREENE, who read numerous ex-
tracts from the inspectors' reports and from the evidence
before select committees, and discussed the various pre-
ventive measures which had been suggested, such as an
increase in the number of Inspectors, the appointment of
sub-inspectors, improved education of men and managers,
and an alteration in the law limiting the liability of the
mine-owners. He moved for a Royal Commission to in-
quire into the subject.

Mr. JACKSON, on behalf of the coal-owners, ex-
pressed their willingness to accept and carry out any sug-
gestions for the prevention of accidents, for none were
more interested in the safety of mines than they. He
strongly recommended a subdivision of districts and an
increase in the number of inspectors.

Mr. PO WELL was arguing in favour of an addition to
the staff of inspectors, when the house was counted out at
half-past 7 o'clock.

PROBABLY THE WORST JOURNAL IN

ENGLAND.

A great broadsheet of huge, coarsely-executed
woodcuts, representing, in a style of art the bad-
ness of which has never been surpassed at any
period of our uncivilisation, every kind of violent
and murderous act, every foul and diabolical crime,
every incident marked by special characteristics of
noisomeness, horror, or cruelty, which the annals
of the week preceding the publication-day of this
grievous sheet have furnished for the benefit of
the morbidly disposed part of the British pub-
lic. Only the worst crimes are commemo-
rated here. Has some wretched child been
tormented with rare ingenuity by an unnatural
parent ; has some miserable woman been assailed
with more than common ferocity by her husband ;
has a father been murdered by his son, or a son by
his father ; has an ardent lover blown out his sweet-
heart's brains, or his own, or both his sweetheart's
and his own ; here, as surely as the Saturday comes
round, we have thrust before our eyes, certain
great woodcut illustrations of such horrors, the
original ghastliness of the subjects being supple-
mented by the additional grimness which the vilest
and rudest execution can impart ..... The
illustrations may be enjoyed free of expense, by
those who choose to study them in the shop win-
dows ; not so the letter-press. This the public must
pay for, and, as it does pay for it, it is logical to
conclude that the public likes it. Lit us examine
for a moment what the public does like. It likes—
else why should it pay money to get them ? de-
tailed accounts of all sorts of ugly and terrible
transactions. It likes graphic descriptions, with
particulars, of human remains discovered under
mysterious circumstances and in an advanced state
of decomposition. It likes—judging by the titles
of the different articles—to read of Brutal Assaults,
of Fearful Murder and Suicide by a Father, of At-
tempted Wife Murder at Bury, of a Frightful
Case of Suicide at the Bristol Union, of a Charge
of Murder against the Servant of a Duke, of a
Dreadful Assault with a Bar of Red-hot Iron. . .

Bat what this particular public seems to like best of all
is a detailed history of the last hours of some well
known malefactor--a kind of murderers' Court
Circular. Such a history is furnished of the final
scenes in the life of Miles Wetherill. The narrative
is subdivided into sections, each with a heading or
title of a stimulating character. Conduct of the
Culprits since their Sentence of Death—Wether-
hill's Interview with his Relatives and Sweetheart--
Wetherhill's Last Letter to a Friend—Timothy
Faherty—The Gallows and Barricades—The Crowd
—The Culprits—The Pinioning--The Official Pro-
cession to the Scaffold—Last Preparation of all—
Calcraft threatened. The subject indicated under
these headings receives careful treatment, the details
being (to employ an expressive phrase much in use
among French artists) "caressed" with affection.
. . . We are imitative creatures, and the in-
fluence of bad example is notoriously great in
the criminal world. Any offence of an exceptional
kind,and distinguished by exceptional characteristics,
is sure to be followed by another and another, won-
derfully like the first in all respects. The
area sneak, who objects to the nature of his recep-
tion at the house where his young woman resides, and
where no followers are allo wed,deterni ines in like man-
ner, as ho broods over his wrong, "he'll do for them
people as Miles Wetherill did for them Plows at
Todmorden." lie adds, moreover, that "he
doesn't care if he swings for it," and, to do him
justice, when the time comes for swinging, it seems
as if this boast were well founded, and he really
does not care very much after all. Is he sustained
by the thought that his picture will appear in the
next number of the Police News, with the hangman
attending to him on one side, and the clergyman in
his surplice attending to him on the other ?
Dickens's " All the Year Round."

A posthumous opera by M. Gustave Fay.
" Fiesko," has been given at Pesth.
Madame Ristori has been producing a greal
effect in Havana.

Herr Berwald, a Swedish celebrity as a com-
poser, and the director of the Stockholm Con-
servatory, died the other day, aged seventy-one.
A theatre now being built at Bussetto, Signor
Verdi's native place, bearing the composer's name,
is to be opened this autumn.
Mr. Wingfield Digby, of Sherborne Castle, has
allowed the Master of the Rolls to make a copy of
all the historical papers of his ancestors, the Earls
of Bristol.
A WOMAN KILLED ON THE RAILWAY.--On Satur-
day, aq the Scotch express train was within a mile of
Ueworth S tation, or the North-Eastern line, an old woman,
named Maria Hind, who happened to be walking on tLe
line, was linyckgd clop and killcd•