The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-28 00:00:00

flush LOYALTY.

The stories concerning " Her Most Gracious
Majesty's " opinions on the Irish Church which have
been circulated during the elections have been a
great stumbling-block to patriotic Irishmen. The
e:citeinent at such a time leads " the Celt " to make
e•.-erything subservient to his political opinions.
Everyone is a traitor, an ignoramus, and a trickster
who believes other than he. The Irish papers, if they are
any exposition of Irish feeling, prove this conclu-
sively. On the eve of the elections their articles were
one howl against the man so base as to vote
against the truth, honour, and honesty embodied in
the principles of their respective parties. But this
feeling seems to have gone just a trifle too far at Wex-
ford. At a banquet given to their friends by the
7,iberal members of the county, "to celebrate their
triumph," the toast of "The Queen" was, as usual, pro-
posed and drunk. The singing of the National Anthem
was to follow. But no sooner was the hymn com-
menced than from all parts of the room arose the
unpleasant sounds of dissent, which by and by
resolved themselves into loud and unmistakable
hisses. So boisterous did the company become that
singing had to be desisted from. Mr. D'Arcy, M.P.;
who occupied the chair, remonstrated very forcibly,
but the meeting positively refused to allow anyone
to sing the anthem. Mr. D'Arcy then told them that
any who could not drink the toast of " The Prince of
Wales " might leave the room. The toast was
honoured. But not so " The Lord-Lieutenant,"
whose name was received by a storm of hisses.
Surely it is expedient to control these ebullitions of
feeling.

MR. REVERDY. JOHNSON AND THE WORKING MEN.

The working men were to give a " banquet " to
Mr. Reverdy Johnson. A committee of the Reform
League got all the arrangements in hand, and sent
an invitation to the American Minister. He
accepted it. But now, after his Excellency has
-Veen inade'to expect'-rWo'd dinner; tkriftvia,

tation has been A drawn."- A meeting of the
committee for making the arrangements was
held on Thursday night, when difficulties insur-
mountable presented themselves. By and bye it was
stated that the manager of St. James's Hall refused
to supply a dinner at a lower figure than ss. " Four
and six " cried the committee, but the manager
being inexorable, it was determined that the
whole thing should fall through, and that
instead thereof a working-men's demonstration
should be held in the hall. So Mr. Reverdy
Johnson, having lost his banquet, is to be invited to
make a speech.
A HOME FOR DISCHARGED PRISONERS. -

Attention has been drawn to a home established at
Wakefield for discharged prisoners. This home was
established under Lord Houghton's patronage. It
consists of a factory, mess-rooms, sitting-
room, and • dormitories, with baths, and com-
bines the double object of employment and
a home far its inmates. During last year
it furnished employment (chiefly in mat-making) to
146 men. Between thirty and forty form the
average number of its inmates. After paying all
costs, board, lodging, and the salary of the over-
looker, it cleared £2BO profit in the year. It is
desired to give each inmate the opportunity of
earning, by hard labour of a useful nature, some
Bs. or os. a week ; but so anxious are the men
to procure a little money over and above
their expenses (about is. a week), that by
dint of working long hours—six a.m. to eight p.m.—
their average weekly earnings are more than 1 ls.
The work is all piece-work. None of the inmates
are allowed to remain longer than one year in the
establishment. Their personal liberty is interfered
with as little as possible, and they are allowed much
freedom in the disposal of their spare time, but are
required to abstain from bad company, and to attend
some place of worship at least once on the Sunday
The great value of this institution is that by its
discipline it educates" men to lose their distaste for
work.